Small Town Blues
by GrazW
Summary: Alexandria is a small place, kind of tricky when you're navigating failing relationships and building new ones...
1. Chapter 1

They were arguing again. Rick couldn't even remember what started it this time. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to try and calm himself down and put an end to it.

"Lori, look, we'll talk about this later ok? I have to go to work."

"That's the problem Rick! We _won't _talk, or at least you won't!"

He bit his lip, he knew she was right. He had never been good at expressing his feelings. It didn't seem to matter when he and Lori were blissfully in love, though that seemed like a distant memory, but now it seemed the most important thing in the world to her. In truth there was so a lot he wanted to say, but he couldn't find the words. Not now, not while Carl was just upstairs and Judy was within earshot.

"I'll try to be better, ok?" Was his lame attempt at pacifying the situation.

She just sighed and shrugged at him. He walked towards the door, making a detour on the way to hug and kiss Judith goodbye.

"Don't forget we have dinner at Glenn and Maggie's tonight" she called after him.

He acknowledged her with a wave of his hand as he closed the door behind him, a little too loudly for it not to have been deliberate.

Rick hesitated for a moment on the steps, looking out over the community. Alexandria was everything he and Lori had talked about when Carl was small. So much had happened in between then and now, he could hardly reconcile that young couple with who they had become. Lori had finally got what she wanted, but it seemed a hollow victory considering that the world had to end for them to get there. And they were the most miserable they had ever been.

"Hey, I thought we said nine?" Michonne's voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

"Yeah, we did, sorry" he gave no explanation, he didn't want to re-hash his argument with Lori. Michonne was frowning but had obviously decided against questioning him any further.

"Ok. Well do you wanna do the perimeter check? I'll go speak to Deana and see if any issues have come up overnight."

Rick nodded, Alexandria was so large now that it would take him at least a couple of hours to walk the perimeter and he was grateful for the peace.

"Meet back at the station at noon?" He offered. "I'll go past the armoury, speak to Olivia again about those missing guns."

"Don't stand me up this time" Michonne said, with a smile.

"I won't" he was smiling too now, his bad mood evaporating.

He couldn't help but stare as Michonne walked away. He was admiring her toned legs and butt before he could even control his thoughts. She even managed to make the baggy police jacket look good, taking the time to make her own alterations. She walked like she knew he was watching, her confidence was undeniably sexy.

He shook his head and tried to focus, he was still acutely aware of the fact that Lori was only a few metres behind the door. He jogged down the steps and over to the gate.

* * *

Back at the police station, Rick walked in to the smell of soup cooking and the sight of Michonne at their makeshift stovetop.

"Glenn's tomatoes are finally ready!" She said excitedly. "He made this and was just giving it away, I had to take some."

"You just love free food don't you?" Rick chucked. "Bet you're just mad it wasn't a stack of protein bars he was giving out."

"Shudup! Do you want some?"

"Sure. How was your morning?"

"Fine, nothing to report really. You?"

"The same. It's getting a bit boring around here these days don't you think?"

"Don't jinx it!" She was pouring their soup now. "I know what you mean though, sometimes I do want a bit of excitement. I'm going on this run with Glenn next week, need to get out these walls for a while!"

"That sounds good" Rick mused, knowing Lori wouldn't allow him to do such a thing. He took a sip of soup and make a face. "Urgh! I can see why Glenn was giving this away. That's disgusting!"

"Noooo! It's good." Michonne said sweetly.

"He's not here, you can be honest."

"Ok you're right" she laughed "Glenn should stick to going on supply runs and killing walkers."

Rick suddenly came to a realisation: "Damn, I'm going to his house for dinner tonight! Do you think he'll serve the soup."

Michonne laughed at his horrified face.

"Yep! Soup for starter, soup as a side and then soup pudding for dessert! Mmmmm."

"Wow. I can't wait...really wish you'd stolen us some more protein bars! You used to live next door to Morgan you could have just snuck a few."

"He kept them locked away!" She shrugged.

"I'm not surprised. I would too if I lived near you! Protein bars and cat statues all under lock and key!"

"Hey, I'm a delight I'll have you know."

"I'll bet." He said, sarcastically.

"Oh like you're any better" she was taking their bowls to the sink to wash up now.

"I actually am a delight!"

"When you're not pouting."

"I not pout!" He said, trying desperately not to do that very thing.

"Brooding then! Mister brooding serious officer Grimes!"

He just smiled and shook his head.

"I don't always! Anyway I'm still hungry what else have we got?"

"Well that was kinda it."

"I should have been more grateful then." He said, opening all the cupboards in their police station. It was really just a hut split into two rooms. He found some stale bread and held it up.

"Ah ha!"

Michonne looked skeptical.

"I doubt that is gonna be better than the soup."

"Ok then you don't want any, that's fine." He teased.

"Well I didn't say that! A girl's gotta eat!"

"Go ask Glenn for more soup then." He was walking fast to the other side of the table, holding the bread just out of Michonne's reach. She followed him giggling. Her laugh was infectious, even he let out a chuckle.

"That's not fair! You're so much taller than me. Don't make me use my sword! I've killed for less you know?"

"Ok ok..." He relented, splitting the bread with her.

She made a face as she chewed it.

"I hope to god we find some good stuff when we go on our run."

"I hope you do too, or a recipe book for Glenn."

She snorted at his lame humour. She loved working with Rick, especially when he loosened up. For a long time at first she had thought he was grumpy and serious, buy gradually she realised that was just the effect Lori had on him. She wondered what the argument they were having this morning was about. She had lingered outside the front door, not wanting to knock, but not wanting to walk away and risk being caught as he left.

"What shall we do this afternoon?" His voice drew her away from her thoughts.

"Come to mine? Daryl is there with Aaron working out a route for our run. We could probably use your input."

He nodded. "Not like there are many crimes around here anyway."

They made their way to Michonne's house, stopping at Eric's schoolhouse to wave to Judith and Andre who were playing outside during their lunch break.

"It's cute that they're friends." Michonne said to Rick as they walked away.

"They didn't have much choice really. They're kinda stuck with each other." Laughed Rick.

"Like you and me then?" Michonne teased.

"Exactly like you and me." Rick tried not to smile, but felt his lips twitching regardless as he looked at Michonne's beaming face.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Apologies in advance for the lack of Richonne in this chapter, but it's necessary to get where we're going I promise you.**

Rick and Lori had taken a rare evening off from passively aggressively sharing the same space to visit Glenn and Maggie for dinner.

The four of them sat round the Rhee's kitchen table, drinking wine and remeniscing about how far they'd come.

"Remember those eight months on the road before we got to the prison!" Glenn said, wincing at the memory.

"I thought I'd give birth on the road!" Lori laughed.

"We're laughing about it now but my god..." Rick shook his head. "...we got so lucky with that place."

"All thanks to you." Glenn nodded at Rick.

"And you!" Rick batted the compliment back. "I don't know where we'd be without you...master walker slayer...going out on runs all the time."

"Yeah well." Glenn looked in Maggie's direction. "That's kinda a touchy subject at the moment."

"Do you really have to go?" Maggie sat back patting her own eight month pregnant belly.

"It's only for a couple of days." Glenn reasoned. "And we need food!"

"A lot can happen in a couple of days, and my back is so sore. Hershel isn't exactly an easy child at the moment." Maggie sighed.

"Who else can go?" Glenn put his arm around Maggie.

"I can." Rick tried to avoid Lori's eyes as he said it. Though he could feel them boring into the side of his head.

"But I thought...you guys agreed..." Glenn looked back and forth between Rick and Lori.

"Look, it's a couple of days, Maggie needs you here. You can cover my police shifts. Which you'll be fine at because absolutely nothing happens here ever. I want to get back out there."

Glenn's eyes flicked from Rick to Lori. The silence was deafening.

"Rick...?" Lori finally said.

"Lori, it's a couple of days. We know what we're doing." He shrugged, putting an end to the conversation knowing Lori wouldn't cause a scene in front of their friends.

Lori said nothing, but pursed her lips and stared straight ahead.

"If you're sure?" Maggie was smiling from ear to ear.

Rick nodded. They finished their dinner without anything further being said about it, Rick felt Lori tense up next to him but he employed his usual tactic of avoidance and carried on as usual. He knew it would cause an argument as soon as they got home, he also didn't particularly care. They were bound to argue about something tonight, it may as well have been this.

* * *

"Lori?" He leveled as they crossed the threshold of their kitchen.

"Don't touch me!" She shrugged his hand off her arm. He'd played it there as a pitiful attempt at closeness.

"Why are you getting so upset about this? It's a couple of days." Rick hadn't been on a run for months. Lori had wanted them to return to their old lives as much as possible. And for Carl and Judith to have normality. Rick understood her thought process, but was increasingly frustrated about feeling like he wasn't contributing enough to the community.

"You didn't talk to me!" There it was again. Her insistence that he talk more.

"I didn't even know I was going to agree to it until we were sat there, it wasn't exactly planned!" He was exasperated, he had lost count of the number of arguments they'd had that week already. His voice was getting louder as he tried to reason with her.

"There's always a reason Rick! Always an excuse!"

"An excuse for what, Lori? I've not done anything wrong." He was shouting now, grateful at least that the children were sleeping elsewhere tonight. Judith had fallen asleep at Glenn and Maggie's and Carl was staying at Ron's as he always liked to do on a Friday night after he went over to play video games.

"We agreed you wouldn't go out there anymore!"

"No! YOU decided. Like you decide everything!" He could feel the rage building in his chest. "I can't remember the last time I actually made a decision."

"Because you don't _talk_!" Lori shouted back. "You don't tell me what you're thinking. You're basically a stranger living in my house!"

"You want me to talk, you want me to say what's bothering me? What's on my mind?!" He spat the last word out like it was venom. He didn't even give her the chance to respond before carrying on. All the anger of the past few years was spilling out as he reached his breaking point.

"You want me to tell you that I can't even bear to look at you!? Because every time I do I see him?! I see his face! I hear his voice, I remember what I did to him. What _you _made me do to him!" He felt his voice crack, as it always seemed to do when he spoke about Shane. "You just carry on, go around like nothing happened, telling people Judith is my daughter!" He felt his breathing ragged with anger.

"She is your daughter" Lori whispered.

"Every day I remember him. I think of him fucking my wife! Raising my kid! Telling you I was DEAD! Was it worth it?!" He was going too far, Lori looked terrified of him. But he couldn't stop. "Was it good? Was it better than with me?"

"Rick..." Lori gasped.

"You wanted to talk! We're talking now aren't we?" He desperately tried to get his anger under control, he felt his hands shaking and his heart pounding in his chest.

Lori stood silently in the darkness, neither of them had bothered turning on the light.

"Just say it." She eventually said.

"I don't love you anymore." The words even surprised Rick as they fell out of his mouth. "I can't...I can't do this anymore."

Neither of them spoke. The moonlight cast shafts of light into the kitchen through the blinds, Rick could just about make out Lori's face. If she had cried, if she had screamed at him like she had done dozens of times before, he could have dealt with it. Instead she remained passive, her jaw was fixed and her eyes looked through him.

"Ok" she said "ok."

Before he had a chance to respond she was walking up the stairs to bed. Rick stood at the bottom of the stairs watching until he heard the bedroom door slam shut. He stared back into the darkness of the kitchen, his mouth still hanging slightly agape.

Drinking any more seemed like an awful idea, but at the loss of anything else to do Rick poured himself a glass of whiskey, his hands still shaking as he held the bottle. He went out to the porch.

"You alright?" Rick jumped as he heard Morgans voice in the darkness. He was sat on his own porch. "_Shit"_ thought Rick_ "he heard us."_

_"_Morgan...hey...that was..."

"...I don't need to know what it was. Long as you guys are ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

Morgan nodded.

Morgan and Dwayne were the first people Rick met in the apocalypse. He was glad they had managed to find each other again. Since they had moved to Alexandria, Dwayne and Carl had become good friends. Morgan and Rick had somewhat more of a tenuous friendship but Morgan had always been a voice of reason for Rick and they respected each other. Seeing Morgan now made everything seem like it had come full circle.

Rick sat down on the porch chair and gazed into the distance. He felt bad for getting so angry at Lori, but oddly calm now that he'd got everything off his chest. He sipped his whiskey, enjoying the burn as it slid down his throat. His heart rate had returned to normal, and a small part of Rick, the part that had been married to Lori for 17 years, wanted to wake her up and apologise. But the logical part took over, and he stayed put.

He sat there until the sun started to come up, long after Morgan went to bed. He loved how beautiful the community was at sunrise, everything seemed brand new today. He decided to head inside to get a couple of hours sleep before the kids got home.

He pushed open the door and made his way to the couch. He pulled off his boots and took off his gun holster, making sure it was still within arm's reach. For the first time in a long time he fell into an easy sleep.

* * *

Rick wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up, his head felt thick and groggy. As he came to he heard Lori in the kitchen making breakfast. The reality of their argument last night dawned on him. He stayed still on the couch until she noticed him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." Her voice was terse.

"You didn't, I don't think." Rick said hoarsely. He fumbled with his gun belt as he sat up. "Did you sleep ok?" He asked her, mainly to fill the awkward silence.

"Not really." She leaned against the kitchen countertop, coffee cup in hand, staring blankly at the empty space in front of her.

"I'm sorry." He offered. "I shouldn't have said all that stuff. I was angry."

She sighed heavily before she replied.

"At least I know now how you've been feeling. I asked you to talk more."

Rick nodded slowly.

"Look, I'm gonna go and speak to Daryl. See if I can move in with him and Carol. At the very least we need some space." He said cautiously. Lori nodded.

Rick wondered how a divorce would even work in the apocalypse, realising suddenly they didn't really have any money or assets anyway.

"I need to hear it..." She said as he put on his boots and rose from the couch. "I need you to say it now, in daylight, when you're sober." Her voice was shaky. "Please." She begged as he shook his head.

"I can't do this anymore." He forced himself to look at her when he said it. "I'm not in love with you." His voice cracked as he remembered happier times. "I'm sorry...I tried to make it work...I couldn't put it back together."

"I know." Lori let the tears escape her eyes. She moved towards him, he didn't put up a fight as they embraced. They both realised it was the first physical contact they'd had in months. "I'm sorry too, Rick."

Rick's heart felt heavy as he closed the door on his old life, but his head felt clear. He walked the short distance to see Daryl and Carol.

"Course you can live here." Daryl growled as Carol nodded beside him, her outstretched arm on Rick's shoulder as he told them he and Lori had seperated. "This place has been getting a bit empty anyway since Morgan and Dwayne moved to that house by you."

"Thanks man, guess I'll start to bring my stuff over. Hey, I'm coming with you guys for that run by the way. Maggie wants Glenn to stay back."

"Mmhmm k. We'll leave tomorrow, there's barely any food left."

"No argument here." Rick was relieved to have some space.

"I'm gonna go check on Lori." Carol smiled.

"You ok man?" Daryl asked Rick once they were left alone in the kitchen.

"Yeah...I actually am." He realised. "It's been a long time coming."


	3. Chapter 3

About a three hour drive from Alexandria there was a long abandoned shopping mall that Glenn and Tara had been telling the group about for years. They had always deemed it too risky as it was over run with walkers, but the group had decided to head there first to check if it was passable. They figured that they could hopefully find some clothes, supplies and even food there.

Rick and Michonne were the last to pull up, having driven through the worst storm they'd seen in years. Rick squinted through the rain, pointing Michonne in the direction of the other cars.

"A movie theatre! Cool!" Michonne pulled up next to the convoy. "You ready?"

Rick nodded. Throwing their jackets over their heads they ran to the entrance.

"Hey guys." Aaron and Daryl were drying off in the foyer. "Pretty cool huh?"

"This place has been over run with walkers every time me and Glenn have come out here for years!" Tara marvelled, fresh from scavenging behind the confectionary counter with Heath.

"Felels weird being in a place like this again." Rick admitted.

"I still remember that smell." Michonne breathed in the stale popcorn/sickly sweet smell.

"I'm going to go and have a check around now the rain has eased up." Rick said. He nodded to Daryl who followed him outside.

The rest of the group soon followed and checked the outside of the building for any potentially compromised spots.

Michonne caught sight of the sign above the theatre, remarkably intact compared to the rest of the building. 'Toy Story 3' was the film showing, her eyes pricked with tears as she remembered seeing it with Andre only about a week before the outbreak. Alexandria was as safe a place as any for him to grow up in the new world, but it seemed so grossly unfair compared to the life he had before. Sunday morning movie and ice cream were a staple in their lives before, and the closest he got now was the projector screen that Eugene rigged up for them with the same few movies shown on repeat.

"Hey." Rick touched her shoulder gently, returning from his check with Daryl. It was so second nature to them now it didn't take long, they barely needed to speak. There were only two walkers and as they took on one each, Rick shamefully basked in the adrenaline. It was his first time outside the gates of Alexandria for months.

"All ok?" Michonne fixed her smile as she said it.

"Yeah there were only a couple, I figure we still need a couple of us on watch at a time though just to be sure."

She nodded in response and looked up at the sign again. His eyes followed hers.

"Good movie." He remenisced, recalling Carl's excitement when they went to see it.

"Yeah." She said quietly. "I don't even think Dre remembers seeing it. It seems so unfair doesn't it?"

"I know. Carl still remembers what it was like before, I'm not sure if that's better or worse than not remembering."

"We did the best we could for them, I guess that's all we can do."

"Can I ask you something?" He paused as she nodded, wondering if he was intruding too much. "Do you find it works ok with you and Mike seperated?"

Michonne was taken aback, they rarely talked about their personal lives. Which was odd now she thought about it as they were such good friends.

"Better than when we were together." She confirmed. "Its hard sometimes. But we were silly to try and carry on with a relationship that barely worked before this whole thing happened. The end of the world isn't a reason to be unhappy." She shrugged.

He nodded and inhaled deeply, he opened his mouth as if to say something and then decided against it.

"I'm glad you're happy." He decided on as they made their way inside.

He raised his hand to Aaron to signal they should all meet in the foyer.

"How was it?" Aaron asked, his eyes flicking from Rick to Daryl.

"Yeah, alright." Nodded Daryl.

"I still think we should take it in turns to keep watch though if we're planning on staying here." Rick advised cautiously. "We know how quick one or two can turn into a herd."

"You got it." Tara said, breaking open a bag of candy she'd found. "I don't mind taking first watch."

"I don't think there's much point risking going to the mall tonight." Aaron frowned as the rain pounded down on the roof once again. "This seems as good a place as any to hole up, maybe if we take watch in twos the rest of us can try and get a few hours sleep in one of the screens."

The others nodded, grateful for such a comfortable place to spend the night.

"I'll go now with Tara." Daryl nodded his head at her, signalling for them to head for the door.

"I'm happy to take over at 11." Aaron said, as Heath nodded. "We should go eat our dinner of candy and get our heads down."

They headed into the first screen, giggling like school kids as they walked along the aisles. Rick sat down at the very back just as he used to do when he was a teenager, his feet up on the seats in front.

"Good thing candy doesn't go off, huh?" Michonne whispered as she dipped her hand into Rick's bag of twizzlers and stepped over his legs to take the seat next to him.

"Oh. We're sharing are we?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Shhh...get some rest." Michonne helped herself again. She fixed her eyes forward, pretending she didn't see Rick's lingering look out of the corner of her eye.

Rick closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on resting, but every time Michonne adjusted her position or delved into his bag of candy he felt a surge of electricity run through his body.

* * *

"What kind of lawyer were you before?" Rick asked Michonne as they set up their watch post outside the theatre.

"Human rights." She yawned. "Why? You need a lawyer?"

"A divorce lawyer." He let out a hollow chuckle and sat down on the step.

Michonne tried to keep her face neutral.

"I see." She nodded slowly. "I don't think divorce exists anymore?"

"That's what I figured." He twirled his wedding ring between his fingers.

"Is that so you don't get a line of women show up at your door?" She gestured to the ring.

"I'm gettin' used to the idea I think. We only decided a couple days ago."

Michonne nodded, she wasn't used to Rick opening up like this.

"Though it hasn't been right since before Judith was even born." He mused. "We were always trying to make the best of a bad situation."

"Before I had Andre, I never understood why people stayed in relationships and marriages when they were unhappy. But it's amazing how many years go by when you're just trying to make it work."

"Yeah. And then add to that we were trying to negotiate the end of the world." He looked around at the wasteland that he never felt like he'd get used to.

Michonne yawned as she nodded.

"You tired?" Rick studied her face.

"A little. Didn't really sleep that well in there."

"Get some sleep if you want." He patted the blanket they had set down on the ground to make it slightly more comfortable.

"I don't want to leave you on watch on your own." She said as she took off her jacket to use as a pillow.

"It's fine. I like it. I'll wake you up if I need you." He reasoned. She was already lying down, her eyes closing.

"Thanks." She yawned.

He took off his own jacket and placed it lightly over her, rubbing her back as he moved his hand away. The next time he looked over at her she was fast asleep.

Michonne only woke as the sun was rising.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Rick greeted her.

"How long have I been asleep?" She yawned and stretched herself awake.

"About three hours."

"Rick! You should have woken me." She slapped his knee.

"It's no problem. I like it. It's quiet."

"Well thank you. I feel re-invigorated and ready for the day." She sat up next to him, passing his jacket back to him.

"Oh god." Rick groaned. "Nothing worse than when you're full of energy." He nudged her playfully with his elbow.

"I'll try not to annoy you." She nudged him back. "No promises though."

"Good morning." Aaron's cheerful morning voice permeated the air. "Great day to go shopping huh?" He waved his arm in the direction of the mall next to the movie theatre.

"A great day." Michonne nodded enthusiastically. "Rick needs some new boots." She said as she stood up and wandered back inside the theatre to see what sugar filled snack would be her breakfast.

"Do I need new boots?" Rick asked Aaron, his face screwed in confusion.

"Oh...no buddy, you're fine." Aaron nodded, but the look on his face as he glanced downwards told another story.

"What's wrong with my boots?!" He called after Aaron who had hastily made his exit under the pretense of putting his bag in the car. "And why is everyone so cheerful without coffee first thing in the morning?"

"A'men brother." Daryl grumbled as he stepped outside. "You know they're gonna make you get new boots don't ya?"

"I know." Rick sighed.

"Heads up!" Michonne shouted as she threw Rick a packet of milk duds. "Breakfast!"

"Thanks." He opened them, wishing they were coffee. "Let's go shopping." He said in a fake sing song voice.

"That's the spirit." Michonne linked her arm in his and they headed for the mall.


	4. Chapter 4

"How about these?" Michonne held up perhaps the tenth pair of boots for Rick to view.

Rick maintained a dignified silence as he went about the store collecting the items on their list. He shook his head at her, but he wore a slight smile.

"What size are you!?" Tara called from the back of the store.

"Eleven!" Michonne shot back, a little too quickly. "I think." She added.

"You're right." Rick relented. "Ok I'll try on _one_ pair." He sat down on a chair with a heavy sigh and pulled off his six year old cowboy boots.

"Ooh those are good!" Michonne followed him over and marvelled at Tara's choice. She held up Rick's dusty old boots to compare. "They're practically the same just newer."

Rick tried on the new boots. He was loathe to admit it, but they actually did feel comfortable. He had forgotten what it was like to wear boots with a full sole and that were the colour they were meant to be, not a faded light brown. The new boots were smart, dark brown leather and of course the added bonus that they weren't falling apart.

He stood up, trying and failing to maintain his cool composure.

"Alright." He threw his hands up. "You were right, I'll keep 'em."

"See." Michonne gloated. "You gotta listen to me more."

"Well, we'll see." Rick chuckled as he filled his rucksack with shoes from the children's section for Judith, Carl and the other children at Alexandria. "Now, let's go and see if there is anything still edible in the food court. I'm keen to get my hands on these 11 secret herbs and spices if there's a KFC."

They exited the store, coming face to face with Aaron, Heath and Daryl who were fresh from collecting kitchen supplies.

"Hey guys, ready to try and go food shopping." Aaron greeted them. His eyes spotted Rick's new shoes. "Wahey...new boots!"

"Don't..." Rick cut him off with a shake of his head. Michonne giggled as she shared a look with Aaron.

"You're next." She pointed at Daryl.

"Don't even think about it." He said as he distanced himself from them rolling his eyes.

"This is where I miss shopping with Glenn." Tara mused. "He's such a fashionista."

* * *

The food court at the mall was practically a treasure trove. The group marvelled at the untouched cans of beans and corn that they calculated would be just about safe to eat. Same with the herbs and spices that Rick was exceptionally pleased to be able to find.

"I didn't know you were so into flavour." Michonne teased, she had tasted Lori's cooking and wouldn't have assumed her husband was a fan of seasoning.

"I took a culinary class when I was younger." He confessed. "It was mainly to impress a girl."

"And was she impressed?" Michonne loved when Rick gave an insight into his life before the apocalypse. On paper it seemed like they wouldn't have got on, but the more she heard the more she decided they actually would have been friends.

"No." He admitted firmly. "Girls were never really impressed by me."

"I find that hard to believe." Rick made a face, it was the same face he always made when someone paid him a compliment, Michonne had noticed, a cross between confusion and embarrassment. "Hey look, there's a McDonald's over there! Andre used to love those happy meal toys!"

"Carl too!" Rick reminisced. "He's too old for them now, but Judy would love them." He glanced over at the rest of the group who were getting ready to leave. He held his fingers up for Aaron to see, gesturing that he and Michonne would join them in two minutes.

They had to push the door open and break the lock to get behind the counter at McDonald's.

"Be careful." Rick whispered. "There might be walkers."

Michonne held her sword out in front of her, on hyper-alert as she always was when away from home. They walked in a 360 degree motion taking in their surroundings. Rick pointed towards the back of the kitchen, she nodded and continued forwards as he split off.

It happened suddenly, as it always seemed to do no matter how carefully they checked. First there was one walker which Michonne got rid of effortlessly, but then the others followed. They clumsily tripped on the shelves, knocking them over like dominoes as they lurched towards Michonne. A quick calculation told her there were six of them on her. Her eyes scanned the kitchen to see if Rick was in view. She heard him shout something unintelligible, then there was nothing but the lazy growl of death coming from the walkers.

"RICK!?" Michonne's scream pierced the air. She held her breath. She would never get used to the putrid smell, they quite literally smelt like death. She swung her katana relentlessly against them, trying desperately to see past to see if Rick had managed to get away. She had no idea how many there were now, they kept coming. "RICK!" She screamed again, more frantically now as she dispatched the last walker and made her way over to the side of the kitchen he was on.

It was completely dark, Michonne heard the undeniable growl of another wave of walkers. Eternally grateful that she'd kept up her sword training even though she rarely went outside the gates, she marched over to them. All the while her eyes scanned the room looking for Rick.

Her body pivoted fluidly, she barely took a breath in between kills. She wondered how many more their could possibly be. She was pushed into the corner, the three walkers she could see were too strong. Michonne rarely panicked, but she felt her heart thudding against her ribcage as she tried to free herself.

"Michonne!" Rick cried from the depths of the kitchen after what felt like an eternity. She had never been so pleased to hear his voice. He sprinted over, knife in hand and together they managed to get the upper hand. Rick looked at Michonne, shaking his head at how close they'd come. "Are you ok?" He frantically searched her exposed skin for bites or scratches.

"Yeah I'm fine." She swallowed. "I just thought..."

"It's ok...you're ok...we're good." He pulled her in for a hug. She threw her arms around his waist, unsure if they'd ever embraced in this way before. She rested her head on his broad chest, letting it's rise and fall calm her breathing. She liked the way he smelled, like soap and denim and faintly of sweat.

Rick kissed her forehead, allowing his lips to linger there for a second before they broke their embrace. He smirked at her as he reached into his rucksack. He pulled out a plastic bag filled with dozens of equally plastic, garish happy meal toys.

"You got them?" Michonne's face lit up as she snatched the bag from him.

"They were over there." He pointed to the opposite side of the massive kitchen. "I grabbed them before all the commotion."

"The kids are gonna be so happy." She beamed, their walker scare all but forgotten.

"Come on. We need to go find the others."

* * *

"Where's the keys?" Rick walked around to the driver side of their old sedan as he said it.

"I'll drive, you haven't slept." Michonne countered, twirling the keys on her finger.

"You drove here." He said. "Fair's fair."

"Alright." She relented, tossing the keys to him. "Just don't crash!"

The group fueled up their vehicles and loaded up their haul before setting out on the road. They agreed a different route, hoping to find some places to stop at on their way back.

Rick and Michonne drove in silence for a little while, enjoying the scenery of Virginia in the height of summer.

"I was scared." Michonne admitted after a while. "I haven't felt that way in so long. I almost forgot what it was like."

Rick's gaze fixed on the road ahead. He nodded slowly.

"Remember what we said? When we came to Alexandria? You and me and Carol and Daryl and Glenn...we all agreed we'd never forget. But we have."

"That's my biggest fear." Rick said, taking a beat to look over at Michonne. "I hate who I became when we were on the road. But I never want to forget what it was like."

"I felt slow." She iterated. "Even though I knew what I was doing, I felt slow."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. My knife didn't feel right in my hand. We've spent so long just doing fake police work and farming and building things we've forgotten what it's really like."

"How do we get back to who we were?" She asked him.

Rick didn't speak for so long that she didn't know if he'd heard her.

"I think this is who we were..." He snuck a look at her again. "Before the world changed."

Michonne felt tense, she understood what he was trying to say, but she didn't like how she felt swinging her katana. Rick was right in a way, they had reverted back. They were like animals out on the road, so primative with their wants and needs, they forgot for a while what it was like to want human things.

"We've got too comfortable." She said with certainty.

"Look." Rick reasoned. "We survived today. We're ok, we're on our way home. I'm counting that as a win."

Michonne sighed, but didn't say anything more.

Rick sensed her unease and leaned across to put his hand on her knee. He squeezed it gently. She looked at him and nodded her appreciation. He left it there for a while as they drove towards the dusky evening light.


	5. Chapter 5

Once the group were back in Alexandria they were greeted like royalty as they bestowed new clothes, kitchen equipment and food upon everyone. But things soon settled into their normal rhythm. Rick was getting used to living apart from his family and Carl and Judith actually seemed not too phased by their parents seperation. Rick made sure to have either breakfast or dinner with them every day, and even seemed to be getting on better with Lori. Though every interaction still felt stilted and awkward.

As summer turned to fall he walked to the station after dinner with his children to find Michonne already there. She was sat down with a pile of books and sheets of paper spread across the table. They were on the night shift at the police station and if the day shifts were boring then the night shifts were something else entirely. It was no wonder she had brought something to occupy her time.

"Studying for finals?" He quipped as he sauntered into the room.

"Very funny." She mused, barely looking up from her work. Her locs were piled on top of her head, her face screwed in concentration. Rick was careful not to stare at her for too long, but she looked stunning.

"Do you want a coffee?" He busied himself in the kitchen.

"Yes please. I'll be with you in a moment." She said, staring at the pages again.

"Take your time." He poured the boiling water into their mugs, watching as it absorbed the coffee grounds. "It's not like we have anything to do anyway."

"Hmmm...thanks." She said as he placed the mug down on the table next to her.

"I'm gonna go speak to Deanna before she goes to bed." He said, aware he would just be annoying her if he hung around.

"M'kay." She waved him off.

He returned around an hour later to the same scene, Michonne's coffee cup was still full next to her and she was so deep into one of her books that she barely registered Rick coming through the door.

"What are you working on?" He sat down next to her, curiosity getting the better of him. "Deanna gave us cookies." He said as he popped one into his mouth, offering her the tub.

She shook her head. "Don't laugh." She looked up from her work.

"I won't." He promised, mouth full of cookie.

"Well I've been thinking for a while, that we need some kind of agreement between the communities." She looked at Rick who was staring back wide eyed. "Like...this is what the rules are, this is how we treat each other, this is what happens when we don't."

"Wow!" He nodded in awe. "Like a constitution?"

"More like a charter. I figure if we get everyone to sign it then we'll build the foundations for the future." She shrugged. "Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom..."

"This is amazing. Does Deanna know about this?"

"Mmmhmm we talked about it today. She's excited."

"I bet she is." Rick was staring at Michonne, dumbfounded. "This is huge."

"I'm glad you didn't laugh. You're the only other person I've told apart from Deanna."

"Why would I laugh?" He scoffed. "You not used to people appreciating your intelligence?"

"I guess not." She brought her coffee mug up to her lips and screwed up her face at the temperature.

"I'll make another." He held up a glass bottle. "Deanna gave me some milk too."

"It's fine. I'll make one later." She stretched her arms up as she rolled her cricked neck from side to side. "It's gonna be a long ass night as usual."

"Ok." He poured the cold coffee down the sink before returning to sit next to her again. "Now, how about you...take a break.." He playfully untangled the pencil from her fingers.

"You want me to stop building the foundations of a civilization?" She turned to look at him.

"I got something to show you." He smiled. She couldn't resist his playful side.

"Alright come on then." She got up from the table and followed Rick out the door.

"Where are we going?" She whispered as he headed towards Deanna's house.

"Here..." He unlocked the door to Reg's old studio. Michonne thought it had been uninhabited since Reg died at Pete's hands four years previous. She had never been in there, to her knowledge no one had.

"Wow I never knew what was in this place." She marvelled as she followed him inside. The walls were adorned with sketches and drawings of Reg's vision for the future. A larger community, a school building, a huge park.

"Watch the step." He instinctively held out his hand to help her down. As Michonne took it she noticed the absence of his wedding ring. "Come here." He put his arm around her waist and drew her to him. He switched on the light over the table to reveal a sketch of a bridge.

"Is that the huge bridge that connects the communities?"

"Yeah... The one that got destroyed by that herd. Me and Abraham and Tobin are gonna rebuild it."

"Did you draw this?" She ran her hand over the sketch noting the carefully constructed lines.

"I kind of copied it from an old blueprint Reg had." He admitted. "Abe thinks it's totally possible to build it up though, we would have a trade route and it would take less than half a day to get to the Kingdom and Hilltop on foot or on horseback. Negan and the sanctuary have been good providing us with fuel, but it's not sustainable really."

"The new world." Michonne smiled, leaning her head on Rick's shoulder. He ran his hand up and down her back.

"You and me." He said softly. "Reordering things."

"Who would have thought it?" She turned to look at him. Rick put his finger under her chin to gently bring her face closer to his. "Rick?" She whispered.

He covered her mouth with his before she said anything else. Her body responded immediately to the way his lips felt against hers. He tasted warm and sweet and somehow they knew what they were doing as their tongues danced with one another. Michonne felt herself relax into the kiss as Rick enveloped her in his arms.

Rick daren't break the kiss in case either of them came to their senses. Michonne was intoxicating, he felt his head spinning as he closed his eyes and enjoyed feeling her soft lips mingling with his own. Feeling brave he shifted position slightly to pull her closer to him.

His hands roamed up her back, he wanted to feel every inch of her. He held the back of her head with his hand, pulling her gently backwards to expose her neck. He planted long lingering kisses there, taking time to suck at her skin.

Michonne surrendered under Rick's expert lips, softly moaning as he sent shockwaves through her body.

He pulled away from the kiss and stood in front of her. A dazed look in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.

"Shall we...do you wanna go somewhere?" He asked.

She wished he hadn't.

She wished he hadn't given her time to think and consider what this really meant.

She wanted to go back to 30 seconds ago when he was kissing her and she wasn't thinking about the consequences.

"We can't." She shook her head.

"Ok." He nodded firmly, feeling his stomach sink. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I want to, but..."

"But what?" He moved towards her, taking her in his arms again.

"There's just too much of our past here." She reasoned, she pushed herself away from him.

Rick said nothing. He nodded again and walked out of the studio.

Michonne left it a few minutes before heading back to the police station thinking she'd find him there. But he was gone, he'd taken his coat with him. She knew he wouldn't skip out on work and so knew he was likely just carrying out a perimeter check or something. Wherever he was, he clearly didn't want her to find him so she sat back down and carried on working on her charter, her lips still tingling with the taste of him.


	6. Chapter 6

"Have you seen Maggie?" Deanna bustled out of her house just as Rick walked past on the way to take Judith to school.

"She's probably still at home with Hershal and Beth." Rick replied, studying her face. "Everything ok."

"Come and find me when you've dropped Judy off." She said before she walked quickly in the direction of Maggie's house.

Rick walked Judith to the small schoolhouse and watched with a smile as she took her desk next to Gracie. He felt a strong wind rush past him as Andre bolted into the room and shoved his way to his desk.

"Andre!" Michonne's voice came from behind Rick. "Careful!"

"Sorry mom!" He turned around and flashed a smile that was identical to his mothers. "Sorry." He turned to Rick.

"It's ok." Rick chuckled.

"Where do they get their energy from?" Michonne shook her head as she asked Rick. They walked out into the street.

"God only knows." He yawned.

The two of them stood outside the schoolhouse awkwardly for a few seconds. Michonne hadn't seen him since their kiss the previous night.

"You disappeared last night." She said cautiously.

"Yeah." Rick's hands moved to his hips and he turned his face away. "Sorry." He didn't offer an explanation.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Is there anything to say? I misread the situation." He chewed at the corner of his lip.

"You didn't." She was fast to reassure him.

"Well then now I'm just confused."

"Look Rick." She took a step closer to him and lowered her voice. "I like you. And in any other world this could go somewhere good. But my ex boyfriend lives right over there." She gestured towards Mike's house. "And you may have taken that ring off, but to me you're still Lori's husband."

Rick inhaled sharply and looked down at his boots.

"I'm not Lori's husband. I haven't been for years." He sighed. "But I respect your wishes. I won't do it again. I'm sorry."

Before she could even respond he had turned and walked to find Deanna.

* * *

"I had a radio message from Jesus at Hilltop. Gregory died last night." Deanna announced to Rick, Maggie and Glenn who were congregated at the Rhee's table. Hershel was playing in the corner while Maggie was bouncing baby Beth in her arms.

"How?" Maggie asked.

"The details are unclear, but Jesus says he tried to help dispatch some walkers outside the gate and..."

Rick nodded with a wry smile.

"He never was very practical." He said.

A slight smirk crossed Deanna's face.

"They have asked for us to help them run things until they elect a leader. They want someone from outside, someone neutral." Deanna turned her head between Rick and Maggie. "I thought Maggie would be the best placed to take on the role."

There was a heavy pause as they all digested the information.

"Obviously it would mean losing both of you." Deanna continued talking to Maggie and Glenn. "And with Rick working on the bridge it means we'll be a little thin on the ground, but we're trying to build a community and this is the best opportunity we have to make that a reality."

Maggie looked at Glenn.

"I like the idea in principle." She said as he nodded. "We'd need a little time to think about it."

"Of course." Deanna got up to leave, signaling for Rick to do the same. "I'll give you a chance to talk it over."

"We'll come by later." Maggie smiled.

"Shame about Gregory." Rick said as they left the house.

"Is it?" Deanna replied curtly.

"Guess not." Rick couldn't help but smile at her directness.

"Listen, I want to get the bridge started sooner rather than later." She changed the subject.

Rick nodded fervently, he'd be grateful for the distraction.

"That's a good idea. I'll talk to Abe and Tobin later."

"Ok, now go get some sleep!" She waved him off.

* * *

Later that night Rick made his way back to the police station, he felt nervous to see Michonne again but also comforted that their routine meant that they crossed paths almost every day.

"Back at the books?" Rick forced out as he entered the room to almost the exact same scene as the night before.

"I'm going to Hilltop with Maggie." She blurted out the words so fast it felt like they didn't even make sense. She couldn't put her finger on the reason she was so nervous to tell him. His stunned silence did nothing to calm her nerves.

"I figure I can write my charter there as good as here." She continued when her statement was met with silence. "And me and Andre just need a fresh start."

"Well that's gonna suck for me." Rick looked upwards as he addressed her. He nodded slowly.

"Like I said before. There's too much of my past here." She tried to say it casually, but each word felt like lead in her chest.

"I know the feeling." He said it softly, he wasn't meeting her eyes. He had nothing to say. If this was a movie he'd give her a huge speach about how much she meant to him, she'd leap into his arms and profess that she would stay with him and they could work it all out. But it wasn't a movie, it was real life, and Michonne already knew what she meant to Rick and it didn't seem to make the blindest bit of difference.

"We leave tomorrow evening."

"That soon?"

"Maggie needs to be there as soon as she can." She reasoned. "And there's no point going seperatley."

"Fresh start, huh?"

"I think it will be good for us."

"And Mike is ok with it?"

"He wasn't ecstatic, but I think he's fed up living in each others pockets too." She shrugged. "He's gonna visit Hilltop every weekend to see Andre, it just gives us more space. Saves me trying to pretend I haven't noticed him and Jessie Anderson sneaking around." Michonne laughed as Rick screwed his face up at the mention of Jessie's name.

"You gotta do what's best for you guys." He shrugged, not out of indifference, but because he was at a loss as to what else he could do or say.

"Tonight is our last shift together." She smiled. "Last shift after four years of sharing this little hut."

"Yeah." He looked around the pitiful workspace. It wasn't much, the wallpaper was peeling off the walls, they'd always made plans to paint it or re-paper it but it never happened. Their little table and kitchenette were where they spent most of their time.

Rick could could on his fingers the amount of actual crimes they'd dealt with, it was mostly just fist fights and scuffles and apart from the unpleasant situation with Pete and Reg he'd never felt his life was in danger the same way he had in his job before the apocalypse. But he was grateful he had Michonne.

On days where he had done nothing but argue with Lori, Michonne had been here with her wide smile ready to pull him out of his bad mood. He had never gone into details, but she always somehow knew when he'd had a bad morning or bad weekend and he noticed her trying extra hard to make him happy.

"Don't disappear on me tonight!" She warned firmly.

"I won't." He promised. But he soon went to talk to Abraham and Tobin, and Michonne didn't see him for the rest of the evening.

As her shift drew to a close at 8am Michonne handed over to Morgan and Carol for the last time. She half expected to see Rick pop back up as promised, but he was nowhere to be seen. She wanted to go to his house to say goodbye, wanted some other end to their time together than an ill-timed kiss and a couple of stilted conversations.

But her mind was made up for her as she rounded the bend that took her past Lori's house. Walking down the steps was Rick Grimes, way too early to have been there to have breakfast with his kids. Michonne felt her feet rooted to the ground. She had no choice but to hope he didn't see her standing there. She didn't need to worry, he seemed to be distracted as he walked purposefully in the direction of their respective houses.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry to split Richonne up guys, but just trust that they'll find their way back to each other in the upcoming chapters.**

**Thanks to everyone reading my story and bigger thanks to anyone commenting. I love comments and reviews and speculation so please keep it coming.**

**Now on with the story.**

_The previous night..._

Rick hadn't wanted to disappear on Michonne again, in fact he hated the cowardly side of himself that ran and hid whenever it got too much. He didn't like to give Lori any credit but she was right, he really was awful about opening up and sharing his feelings.

He left Tobin's house intending to head back to the station and spend Michonnes final shift with her having fun and chatting. But as he passed Reg's studio he instinctively ducked inside to work on his plans.

He left a few times to patrol the perimeter and each time he passed the police station and saw the little light still on he wanted to go and talk to Michonne. Instead he busied himself with meaningless tasks, like cleaning out the prison cell, sorting out the pens in Reg's studio and checking in with Rosita on watch to make absolutely sure there were no threats. He even went outside the gates to do an external check if the fences.

As his night shift drew to a close, he made his way home in the foggy dawn light. As he passed Lori's house he noticed the kitchen light on, he supposed now was as good a time as any to face the music so he sprinted up the steps and knocked softly on the door.

"Where are the kids?" He asked as he stepped inside.

"Still asleep. You want some coffee?" She yawned as she said it.

"Uh yeah sure. Thanks." He nodded. "I needed to talk to you actually." He kept his voice low.

"Oh?" Her voice was hopeful but nervous. Given the nature of their relationship it was very unlikely to be anything positive.

"I'm not sure how to say this..." He began as he leaned on the kitchen sideboard, crossing his arms "...but I want us to get a divorce."

His words hung in the air for a while between them. Lori still had her back to him, but had stopped what she was doing at the coffee machine. "I've spoken to Deanna." He continued. "She has some legal experience in this area, she can help us. We can get something in writing."

"Why is it important to you?" She turned to face him now, the steely whisper in her voice was remeniscent of so many other arguments they'd had in this very room while the children were upstairs.

Rick made sure to check himself before he answered, he didn't want to lose his temper or upset her any further. Treading on eggshells had become so part of his daily routine when they were together that pacifying her was practically second nature. "Is it not important to you?" He decided on.

"We don't live together, we aren't together...is that not seperated enough for you? You need a bit of paper that means nothing to anyone?"

"We need closure." He tilted his head to the side, doing his best to reason with her. He wasn't planning on backing down.

Lori laughed. Not the kind of infectious laugh that Rick used to love, but a hollow sarcastic laugh with the sole intention of annoying him. "You're being insane." She shook her head.

"Insane? For wanting to move on with my life?"

Lori held her fingers to her mouth, drumming them on her lips. Rick figured out he wasn't going to get his cup of coffee. "It's because of _her_ isn't it?"

"What? Who?" He offered his rebuttal a little too quickly, a little too much emphasis on his confusion.

"Don't play dumb Rick, it doesn't suit you." Another hollow laugh. "I've seen the way you cosy up to her on your shifts, the way you look at her like a lost puppy."

"This is nothing to do with Michonne." He said it with more certainty now. "This is about you and me and the kids."

"If you cared about the kids you wouldn't have left." She hissed at him.

Rick sensed that he was talking to a brick wall. He wasn't getting through to Lori, and it wasn't doing any good for either of them.

"Just come and see me when you're ready to talk like adults." He said, he turned on his heel and walked out the door, careful not to slam it and give her the satisfaction of knowing she'd got to him.

* * *

Rick woke up to the familiar night shift disorientation, his bedroom blinds were open but it was dark outside. He checked the clock on his nightstand, 6pm. Michonne would be leaving soon, if she hasn't left already. He stretched and clicked out his aching joints to try and rouse himself enough to go downstairs and head next door to see her.

He wasn't working tonight, and next week he was on day shifts. He shouldn't have slept so long, being awake all night with nothing but his own thoughts was no good for anyone. He pulled on a tee shirt and his jeans and groggily padded downstairs to head next door to Michonne's house.

"Rick?" Michonne was surprised to see him on the other side of her front door.

"Hey." He said nervously, chewing on the inside of his cheek, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm sorry. I disappeared again. You can call me an asshole if you want." He offered a smile to try and lighten the mood.

"You're an asshole." She agreed, she was smiling now too. "Why'd you disappear on me again?" She stepped out onto the porch and closed the door softly.

"I don't even know." He shook his head as he said it, realising that he really didn't have an answer. "I'm not great at handling things, I guess."

"I want us to still be friends." She replied. "I know it got weird with us, but I just want to be friends again."

"We are friends. We'll always be friends." They were leaning on the railing side by side, both gazing out onto the community, both lost for words for a little while.

"It's nothing to do with you." She said into the silence. "You aren't the reason I'm leaving."

"I didn't think I was." Rick lied.

"You never get that feeling? Like you just want to be invisible again? Just one of the crowd?"

"Small town cop right here." Rick pointed to himself with his thumb. "We weren't all city slickers like you before this."

"I always forget that." Michonne always forgot how different their lives were before. She was an attorney at a top Atlanta law firm, and Rick was a sheriffs deputy in King County. She often wondered what she'd have thought of him if she met him all those years ago. "I feel like I can't breathe here."

"I get it." He nodded. "Seeing Lori every day is just..." He sighed. "It'll get easier I'm sure, but it feels like every day we're just going through the motions..."

Michonne nodded slowly, confused after what she saw this morning.

"That's all any of us did for so long. It's like we forgot how to live. Forgot how to be people, how to have a life instead of just surviving."

"Yeah."

"This is me trying to get my life back, trying to build something."

"I know." Rick cast his eyes downwards, not saying anything for a second. "I've asked Lori for a divorce. Deanna is going to help us draw up the papers." He said, not meeting her eyes. It was a lame attempt at opening up, and wouldn't change anything. But he had to start somewhere.

"Oh!" Michonne couldn't hide the moment of realisation. "This morning?"

"Yeah."

She smiled. "She's ok with that?"

"She wasn't happy. But I need to move on. Maybe one day you'll stop seeing me as Lori's husband." He said it clumsily, he knew he wasn't a smooth operator, but with Michonne he seemed to take it to a whole new level of ineptitude.

"Just..." She put a hand up to his face. "Just promise me you'll make yourself happy. You deserve that."

"I guess you're right." He took a deep breath, her skin contact killed him inside. He wanted so much more, he'd had so much more just a couple of nights prior.

"Promise me."

"I'll try."

"Now don't be a stranger." She reached up to hug him, planting a kiss on his cheek. Rick squeezed her tight and rocked slightly from side to side. They only parted when they heard the sound of the RV driving up.

Rick grabbed Michonne's bags to load up in the back while she went to get Andre.

"Bye dude." Rick leaned down to Andre. "Do I get a high five?" He held out his hand.

"Seeyah." Andre beamed, his little smile peaking out from his oversized baseball cap. "Tell Judith bye for me."

"I will." Rick smiled. "You be a good boy for your mom."

Andre nodded firmly before heading towards the RV. Rick turned to Michonne.

"You don't be a stranger either." He said, his tone sounded much more like he was pleading with her than anything else.

"I won't." She squeezed his bicep before descending the steps and heading to the RV. Rick waved his goodbye to Glenn and Maggie. He watched as the RV drove round the corner and Michonne drove out of his life.


	8. Chapter 8

In the month since Michonne had left, Rick had managed to busy himself with managing the building of the bridge. He relished the chance to do manual labour for a change and it was a welcome distraction from the woman who had somehow consumed his thoughts more now she was gone than she ever had done when he saw her every day.

It was just after 6pm on Halloween when Rick kicked off his boots and fell onto his couch. He had spent the day at the bridge. The project was already behind schedule, and Negan and the saviours had been less co-operative than Rick had hoped. He was tired from refereeing fights and arguments all day.

No sooner had he put his feet up on the coffee table when the doorbell rang. He suddenly remembered that Lori was taking Judith and Gracie trick or treating and he prayed that Carol had baked some of her signature cookies.

"Wow! You guys look amazing!" He yelled as he flung open the door. "I'm confused though I thought Judith and Gracie would be here, but it looks to be a ghost and a cop?!"

"She found one of your uniforms in the closet...she insisted." Lori smiled from the bottom of the steps. "And of course Carl leant his hat for the occasion." Judith looked exceptionally cute in an oversized police outfit and hat that kept falling over her eyes.

"Good effort." He said over the tops of their heads to Lori. She bowed her head shyly. "Come on let's see what we've got." He beckoned them inside. "You don't have to wait out there." He said to Lori, figuring it wasn't going to get any less awkward on its own.

""Daddy, did Carol bake some cookies?" Judith sat at the table.

"I'm hoping so." Rick fruitlessly opened and closed the cupboards searching for the cookie tin that usually resided there.

"Looking for something...?" A voice appeared from the doorway as the usually monosyllabic Daryl Dixon had taken on a whole new role for the evening. From somewhere he'd managed to fashion a cape and fangs and Rick had to admit he made a pretty convincing vampire.

"Holy crap!" Rick laughed. "It's Dracula."

"Dracula...and cookies..." He produced the tin with a flourish much to Gracie and Judith's delight.

"What do you say to Daryl?" Lori promoted.

"Thank yoooou." The girls chanted in unison.

Rick turned to Daryl with the intention of asking when he had decided to embrace Halloween when Aaron burst through the door.

"Guys!" His eyes darted from Rick to Daryl. "We have a situation at the bridge. I'm sorry."

* * *

"What the hell is going on here?" Rick demanded of Jerry as soon as his horse pulled up to the base camp at the bridge.

"I'm sorry man, it's the saviours. Seems like Negan promised them all sorts and now they want us to deliver."

"Now?" Rick rolled his eyes. He would have handled Negan differently to Deanna. He didn't trust the man, but Deanna had given him the benefit of the doubt and arranged a trade deal whereby the Hilltop, Kingdom and Alexandria provided the Sanctuary with food and in return the Sanctuary provided them with fuel for their vehicles. It worked well for the most part, but Rick didn't like the way Negan exerted control over his workers. "And where is Lord Negan, dare I ask? No where to be seen?"

"He's back in his ivory tower." Jerry shrugged.

"Course he fucking is." Rick growled. He stormed over to the bridge where he could hear a cocophany of voices. Daryl had arrived a few minutes previous and had made his way to the centre of the crowd. He stood with Abraham and Tobin who were trying to fend off an angry mob. Rick pushed past the crowd of saviours to stand with them.

"QUIET... EVERYBODY!" Rick projected his voice so it was heard by the crowd. "Now! One person..." He pointed to Justin, one of the more vocal saviours "...tell me what's going on and what couldn't wait until morning."

"We were meant to be DONE by now!" Justin snarled as he marched forward. "And we weren't meant to be working such long hours, and we were meant to be staying in Alexandria and getting access to real food, not the crap you keep sending us."

"You need to speak to Negan." Rick shook his head. "That wasn't the deal. Everyone here is getting the same!"

"Yeah. Your little lap dog already told us that." He nodded in Daryl's direction.

Daryl in return launched himself at Justin faster than Rick could stop him. The two men sprawled on the ground as they fought.

"Daryl!" Rick threw himself on Daryl, unable to stop him with his own body weight until Abe joined in. Together they extracted the two men from one another.

"That's right." Justin spat blood from his mouth onto the wooden rungs of the bridge. "Go with your master."

Rick was quicker this time, he positioned himself in front of Daryl. It took both Abraham and Tobin to pull Daryl away, but Justin was in full swing.

Later, when he replayed the moment in his head Rick was sure it happened in slow motion. He somehow managed to dodge Justins first punch, a right hook, but was caught off-guard by the follow up from his left fist. He stumbled. His back hit the unsecured railing that wasn't strong enough to hold his body weight.

Time slowed down. He calculated the drop, about 8ft. His arms flailed, trying to grab onto a surface that wasn't there. He saw the foundations of the old bridge, the pile of rubble with rebar protruding from them. He twisted his body to try and avoid it. He felt the full force of his body ploughing into the pile of rocks.

Someone screamed his name. And then it went dark.

* * *

"He's waking up!" Siddiq's voice was the first one he heard as the medical tent came into focus.

"Oh thank god! Rick!" Lori's voice echoed from the opposite side of the tent as she rushed to his bedside.

"I feel like I got shot again." He said weakly. He slowly registered the pain in his side as being the most severe. But a pounding headache warned him that he most likely had a concussion too. Once he took stock of everywhere that hurt, he wasn't sure there was a part of him left uninjured.

"I gotta say I got a slight deja vu sitting by your bed." Lori replied with a faint smile.

"I gotta get back to the bridge." Rick's thoughts were fuzzy, every movement felt like he was wading through treacle.

"Oh I don't think you'll be going anywhere for a while yet." Siddiq chuckled as he shined his flashlight into Rick's eyes. "Abraham has it covered. You need to relax."

Rick relented with a sigh.

"What's the damage?" He asked Siddiq.

"Six broken ribs...collapsed lung...concussion...fractured cheekbone...and a tonne of bruises..."

Rick looked visibly defeated as Siddiq listed his ailments.

"No wonder I feel like I've been hit by a truck." He groaned.

"You may as well have been." Siddiq nodded. "You actually..uh...by all accounts you got pretty lucky."

Lori was still sat next to Rick. Her lips were clenched shut as tears continued to fall silently from her eyes.

"I'll leave you guys to it and check on you in a little while." Siddiq made his exit.

Rick turned his head towards Lori sat in the chair next to him, just as Shane had said she did every day when he got shot. They were a thousand miles away from that time, both literally and figuratively, but the similarities were haunting.

"Thanks for coming to visit." He smiled at her, wondering how her dutiful wife act would last. She nodded.

"I came as soon I heard what had happened." She whispered quietly. She took his hand. She must have realised by now he'd taken his wedding ring off.

They were both disturbed by Daryl stepping inside shiftily. He stayed still for a moment as Rick and Lori looked at him. Rick's relief was palpable at not being left alone with Lori.

"Hey..." He beckoned Daryl. "Come in."

"I'll see you later. I'm gonna try and get some sleep in one of the other tents." Lori smiled at Daryl as she made her exit.

"Brother, you saved my ass there." Rick said to Daryl in a low voice, nodding towards the opening Lori had departed from. "I thought I'd travelled back in time. Why is she even here?"

"I don't even know, man." Daryl shook his head. "One minute it was just us. Next thing I knew she'd driven over here."

"What a waste of fuel." Rick said weakly.

"You should kick my ass." Daryl growled as he hung his head, his hair obscured his eyes from view.

"I should." Rick agreed.

"I don't know what I was thinking." Daryl continued. "I saw red."

"I'd be a hypocrite if I said I didn't know what that was like." Rick recalled the countless times he'd lost his head in anger.

"I'm so sorry, man." Daryl shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. He wanted a fight, he was gonna fight that night regardless of you."

Daryl nodded.

"They say you're gonna be ok?"

"Yeah." Rick forced out though his heavy lungs.

"You missed a massive fucking metal spike, man." Daryl shook his head, remembering his horror as he'd seen Rick fall then the relief as he'd managed to twist himself away from the rebar. "You're lucky."

Rick sighed and winced again at the crushing pain in his chest. He closed his eyes to try and negate his pounding headache.

* * *

_"Keep up, slow coach." Michonnes voice echoed in his head. They were at the beach. It wasn't anywhere he'd seen before, he wasn't sure they were even still in the United States. They definitely weren't in Georgia or Virginia or any other of the places they'd seen together. All he could see as far as the horizon was flawless turquoise ocean. He felt the sand soft between his toes and basked in the warmth of the sun. He felt a peacefulness that he hadn't felt for years._

_Michonne's perfect form bounded off into the distance until she was in the ocean. Rick heard himself laugh as he followed her. He expected the water to be cold and was pleasantly surprised to find it warm as the waves gently lapped against his legs._

_"I was just giving you a headstart." He smiled as he caught up with her. She responded by splashing him with the water, he laughed and pulled her close to him._

_His hands roamed down her back until they reached the waistband of her bikini and she giggled as he slipped a hand inside. He kissed her. Her plump delicate lips tasting familiar to him._

_"Rick, can you hear me?" She said._

_"What?" He pulled back._

_"Rick..."_

"Rick!" Siddiq's voice now. "Rick can you hear me?"

"Mmm." Rick muttered in response. The flashlight bore into his brain.

"I need you to listen very carefully." Siddiq peered at his face. "We think you have a pretty serious infection. We don't have enough antibiotics here so we need to take you to Hilltop ok?"

"M'chone?" He mumbled to the room full of jumbled faces. He felt cold to his bones, his heart was pounding so fast he could barely catch his breath. All the while he felt the same stabbing pain in his side.

"Michonne is at Hilltop." Siddiq answered, confused. "We have to go now."


	9. Chapter 9

_Beep beep beep _

The sounds and smells of the infirmary were eerily familiar to Rick. His brain slowly registered the scent invading his nostrils as disinfectant, the starched white sheets prickled at his skin. He wasn't even fully awake, but he knew that everything hurt.

"Hey man!" Glenn's cheery voice never failed to put a smile on Rick's face. "Look I know I said to come visit, but I was thinking of something more casual." He joked to lighten the mood, in truth he was relieved to see Rick awake after his middle of the night entrance had looked pretty bleak.

"I like to make an entrance." Rick croaked. The pain was worse in his side and every breath felt like his lungs were being crushed. "Why...?"

"You were in septic shock. They had to put a tube in your chest, because of your collapsed lung. And the site got infected, the infection made its way into your bloodstream. You were in pretty bad shape so Siddiq brought you to me." Doctor Carson piped up from the corner of the room. "You should be glad he did, we got the infection under control but we had to re-open the wound so you're probably in a bit of pain." He walked over to adjust the antibiotic drip in Rick's arm. "And you probably feel like crap."

"You could say that." Rick said through gritted teeth as a wave of pain hit him. Glenn nodded slowly in sympathy as he watched his friend writhing, gripping the bedsheets.a

"Daryl and Heath have gone to try and get some stronger painkillers for you from Alexandria. All we got here is tylanol." Doctor Carson said apologetically.

"I don't think it's working." Rick's face was contorted in pain, the waves were making him nauseous. His head was still pounding and he could feel the beads of sweat run from his head.

"They'll be back soon. Try not to talk." Glenn placed his hand on Rick's shoulder.

"The best I got is sleeping tablets I'm afraid." Said Doctor Carson shaking the bottle.

Rick nodded as the pain burned in his chest.

"Ok here you go." He held the cup up for Rick to take the tablets. He swallowed the water in gulps through his cracked lips before falling backwards helpless on the bed. He tried to steady his breathing, but every breath felt like fire in his lungs.

"Fuck." He winced. He gripped tightly to Glenn's hand on his shoulder, and was slightly aware that he muttered an apology before slipping into an uneasy sleep.

The next 24 hours passed in a blur. Rick fell in and out of sleep as different familiar faces appeared by his bedside. Each time he tried to force himself to stay away and cogent, but the painkillers had arrived and so, coupled with the infection, it just seemed like a constant fever dream.

Around noon two days after his accident, Rick woke up to see the sight he had been waiting for. It was her boots he saw first, then as his eyes panned upwards he saw her legs, her gloved hands...and her face. His mouth fell open as he locked eyes with her. Every time I looked at her she seemed to look more beautiful. She looked weary, her smile looked a little forced, but she still glowed.

"Michonne?" He slurred.

"Hey." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"I dreamed about you." He said slowly, his voice was tired.

"Just then?"

"No...before...back at the bridge...we were on a beach."

"A beach, huh?" She rose from her seat as Rick tried to prop himself up on his elbows. "Careful." She warned as she rushed to his side. She grabbed a pillow from the bed behind her and put it behind his back. "That better?"

He nodded, his face was grey and his head lulled back onto the pillow, breathless with the effort.

"Thanks." He whispered.

"I'm going to get the doctor..." She turned to get up again.

"No...stay." He touched her knee gently. "I'm fine, just a little thirsty."

"Oh yeah, here." She brought the cup of water up to his mouth, using her hand to support his head as he drank. "I like the beard." She teased. Rick had been clean shaven for the last few months and she had been secretly mourning the lack of stubble.

Rick smiled and ran his hand over his face. It didn't take long for him to have quite an impressive level of beard.

"Feels like old times...uhhhhh." The pain medication was wearing off and his body contorted in response to the renewed pain. It hurt everywhere. He reached out for Michonne and she grabbed his hand.

"Shhhh shhh it's ok, it's ok." She looked around for Doctor Carson, not wanting Rick to be in pain but not wanting to leave his side.

"Stay!" He pleaded as if he could read her mind. "Please."

"Ok...it's ok I'm here." She said gently, clasping his hand and reaching her other hand up to stroke his hair. Rick's eyes closed, his face stuck in a grimace as he willed away the pain. At some point he drifted into another fitful sleep, his breathing still laboured but his grip on her hand loosened. She slipped out of the room to find the doctor to administer the pain meds.

* * *

"Maggie?" Rick tried to hide the disappointment in his voice. He figured he must have been asleep for a while.

"Hey Rick, how you doin'?"

"Good...better actually." He answered truthfully. "What time is it?" It was dark outside and Rick wasn't sure what day it even was.

"It's almost midnight." She yawned as she said it.

"What are you doing here so late?"

"We worked out a rota to come sit with you, so you wouldn't wake up on your own."

"That's nice." Rick smiled.

"It was Michonne's idea."

"Was it?" He tried to appear casual.

"Mmmmm." Maggie smirked at him knowingly. "At least you're awake now, the first Rick shift I had you just slept for three hours and then threw up."

Rick laughed.

"I'm so sorry, I don't even remember that."

"You look better."

"How did I look before?"

"Like death."

"Don't hold back or anything."

"You asked." She shrugged. "When did you last eat?"

"Uh...I guess back home. Unless you count that." He gestured to the drip in his arm.

"That's not good." Maggie screwed up her face. "Let me go and get you something."

Rick surveyed his surroundings. It was the first time in a long time he had looked at the infirmary from this position. He hated feeling weak, he hated feeling like he had to rely on people. Most of all he hated the lack of control.

"Here..." Maggie returned with an apple and some bread. "It's not much, but I don't want you to throw up on me again."

"I can't believe I did that." Rick shook his head and gratefully accepted the food.

"That's not all you did." She said quietly, a slight smile creeping on her lips.

Rick's face drained of colour, he looked at her horrified. "What else did I do?"

"Well..." Maggie started, trying to conceal a smile. "Lori was with you at the bridge when your fever started spiking..." She said carefully. "...and Daryl said you woke up asking for Michonne."

Rick covered his face with his hands, but he was smiling now.

"Please tell me Michonne doesn't know?" He asked from behind his fingers.

Maggie shook her head.

"Ok that's fine." He returned to his plate of food. "I'll deal with Lori on my return."

"She'll probably sign those divorce papers now." Maggie quipped.

Rick let out a chuckle, until his broken ribs prevented him from releasing a full blown laugh.

"Where..." He began, wondering how best to phrase it to seem casual.

"Michonne will be here in the morning." Maggie smiled at Rick as he lay back on his pillows.


	10. Chapter 10

Around a week after he arrived at the Hilltop, Rick was well enough to leave the infirmary. Doctor Carson had advised against travel until he was confident the infection was fully gone, and to everyone's surprise Rick didn't protest too much.

"I went to get your clothes." Glenn threw the holdall at the end of the bed in Rick's guest bedroom at the giant Hilltop main house. "I'm sure there's stuff here you could wear, but I know how attached you are to those jeans."

"They're my good luck charm." Rick reasoned as he gingerly followed Glenn into the room, his injury causing him to walk even more bow-legged than usual.

"Are you sure bro? Cos I don't think you've been that lucky."

"That's a matter of perspective." Rick drawled. "Besides, these feel like they're strangling my legs." He gestured downward to the pair of Levi's that he'd borrowed.

"Whatever you say. I'll let you settle in. One of us will bring you supper in a couple hours."

"I could get used to this." Rick groaned as he dragged his legs onto the bed.

"Yeah well don't get too used to it. As soon as you're all better it's business as usual."

Rick chuckled.

"Alright."

"See you later."

Rick leaned into the bag to retrieve his jeans, wincing as he stood up and rid himself of his current less comfortable pair. It was a slow task as his range of motion was severely limited.

"Oh..." A voice made him spin around, but he knew who it was before he saw her. "I'm sorry." Smiled Michonne as she made her way into the room. Rick couldn't help but notice she didn't look particularly sorry.

"No, it's my fault. I should have closed the door." Rick was suddenly painfully aware that he was stood in his underwear. He also realised he was unable to bend to put his jeans on. "Do you want to help?" He held out the pants for Michonne, rolling his eyes at how much she was probably enjoying this.

"An offer I can't refuse." She sniggered as she crouched down in front of him. "One leg..." She said slowly as if she was dressing Andre. "Two legs...well done."

"Stop it." Rick breathed as his chuckle sent a searing pain down his side. "I can take it from here." He pulled his jeans up the remainder of the way once they had reached his knees.

"That's good." Michonne stood up. "We almost made it to second base."

Rick lay backwards on the bed and avoided her gaze in the hope that she hadn't noticed him blushing.

"I'm bored already." Rick sighed, changing the subject.

"I bet you are." Michonne sat down on the chair next to him, propping her legs up on the bed. "You should rest though, we were worried about you for a while there."

"You were worried about me, huh?" He cocked his head to the side.

"I meant the communal 'we'...I didn't really care."

"Well it hurt less than the time you hit me in the head..."

"I still maintain that you deserved that!"

"Maybe so." He said lazily.

"At least you didn't sulk this time."

"I do not... sulk." A yawn permeated his sentence.

The walk from the infirmary to his room in the giant house was short, but it was pretty much the first time he had been vertical in a week and he felt exhausted. Added to the cocktail of pain medication and concussion it proved lethal for his wake to sleep ratio. He sucummed to his heavy eyelids and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

_"Rick look out!" Shane called, but Rick could barely hear him over the gunshots._

_Rick saw the shooter a beat too late, he tried to dive behind a car but he felt the bullet rip through his body._

_It wasn't the pain that hit first, but the breathlessness as the wind was knocked from him. Shane was by his side in an instant, he ripped Ricks shirt and pushed both hands onto his wound to stem the bleeding. The pain was unlike anything he had felt before. It seemed to infiltrate his blood stream like lava._

_"Stay with me Rick! Stay with me." He shouted it so loud the veins were popping out of his forehead._

_"Shane...I'm sorry..." _

_"Why are you doing this to me brother?" Shane was yelling now. "I was trying to keep you safe! I was trying to keep Lori and Carl safe." As he spoke blood poured from his mouth._

_Rick looked down to see his own hands clasped around the knife that was lodged in Shane's stomach. _

_"Brother?" He dropped the knife. The bullet wound still burning through his side. "Shane I'm sorry..."_

_"You weren't built for this world." Shane spat the words out. "Anything that happens to my family its on you."_

_"They're my family, asshole! They're my fucking family."_

_"You know that ain't true." Shane taunted. "She looks like me doesn't she?" And with that, he fell backwards onto the ground._

_"I'm sorry." Rick sobbed, his hands covered in Shane's blood. "I'm so sorry."_

"Rick?" Michonne almost dropped the tray when she saw him writhing on the bed. She rushed to his side.

Rick woke with a jolt. The sheet below him was soaked with sweat. It took a while for him to register where he was. The room was dark. The only light was from the open door that Michonne had come through, she turned on the bedside lamp.

"Is it the pain?" She held the back of her hand to his head, worried that the infection had taken hold in his blood again.

"No...I...I thought I was somewhere else." He said weakly, hastily brushing the tears from his cheeks. "Bad dream I guess." He tried to shrug it off.

"Ok..." Michonne sounded far from convinced. "I think I had better get Doctor Carson to take a look at you."

"No, honestly Michonne I'm fine." He tried to force his face into a smile. "What's that?" He gestured towards the tray, mainly just to change the subject.

"Chicken broth and bread." Michonne placed the tray on the bed next to Rick. "And some of Hilltops famous homemade lemonade."

"Wow you guys really are spoiling me here."

"We're trying to fatten you up. You've got too skinny."

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah me and Dre ate together before I put him to bed. He wants to come and see you tomorrow, I told him you were here."

"I'd like that." Rick smiled.

"What was your dream about?" Michonne asked carefully.

Rick paused for a moment, the spoon hovering in front of his mouth.

"I never told you about Shane did I?"

"No..."

"He was my partner. He got Lori and Carl to safety when it...when everything happened. I was in the hospital, I couldn't."

"What happened to him?" Michonne couldn't have known the answer just then, but as she asked it and saw the shadow that crossed Rick's face, she knew what he was about to say.

"I killed him." He said simply. He didn't want to go into the details. Even though he had replayed that night in his head a thousand times he had never divulged exactly what happened. He trusted that Michonne knew him well enough to understand that he had no choice.

"I'm sorry." She made sure to look directly at him when she said it. She reached for his hand. "So your dream was about him?"

Rick nodded.

"I gotta say." He tried to break the weird tension that filled the room. "I didn't enjoy it as much as the dream when I was on the beach with you."

Michonne laughed.

"Eat your soup." She nodded her head towards the bowl that was still full. "I meant it about you getting too skinny!" She patted his hand and withdrew back into the chair.

"How do you like it here?" Rick waved his hand in the general direction of the wider Hilltop community. He dutifully spooned the soup into his mouth.

"It's nice here. But I miss Alexandria, I miss the people there. But the change of scenery has been nice."

"Alexandria misses you too." Rick said. "I miss you."

"Is that why you broken your ribs, punctured your lung and contracted a deadly blood infection? Cos you know you could have just come over here."

"Damn...wish I'd known that."

"I miss you too, Rick." She said quietly. "So this beach, huh? What was I wearing?"

"Uh..." He tried to recall the details of his dream. "A bikini, I think."

"Oh cute. Did I look hot?"

"I can't answer that without getting into trouble." Rick said, surveying her over this lemonade with one eyebrow raised.

"I bet you wear Speedos on the beach?"

"I can't even remember the last time I went to the beach." He admitted.

"You're so uptight." She laughed. "Had you ever even left King County before we came up here?"

"I left there plenty. I'm just not really that into the beach."

"I'll take you, you'll like the beach with me."

"I get the feeling I would like pretty much anywhere with you." His piercing blue eyes caught her off guard as he looked directly at her when he spoke.

It was Michonne's turn to blush as she busied herself clearing away his plate and glass.

"Nice soup?" She asked to change the subject.

"Delicious." He nodded. "Did you make it?"

"I did indeed."

"Is there anything you can't do?" He asked her as she stood up to leave the room.

"I've yet to discover it." She winked at him before walking out the door.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Once again guys I can't thank you enough for reading. Especially those who have been commenting and liking/reblogging on Tumblr. I hope I do the story justice for you, there's still a fair few chapters to go so I hope you'll stick with it.**

_"Shane! Come back!" Rick ran through the hedgerows at Hershal's farm. His arms were cut by the thick brambles. "Shane!"_

_"I'm not coming back, brother." Shane's disembodied voice came from inside Rick's head. "I'm gone now and it's your fault."_

_Rick cut through the last branch and found himself in the hospital room. Everything was familiar, the wilted flowers, the get well soon cards from his friends and family, except it wasn't him lying there shot, it was Shane._

_"Brother?" Rick looked at Shane's lifeless body, the beep of the machines turned to a flatline. He rushed to his friend. "Shane? Somebody help! Somebody help me!" But no one came. _

_"They aren't gonna help." Shane whispered to him. "This was your fault. Everything that happens from now on is your fault. It's your fault Carl got shot. It's your fault your wife hates you." _

_"Dad?" Rick turned to see Carl behind him. They were on the farm now, that freezing cold fateful night. _

_"No! No! Carl...turn around...go back to the house." Rick tried to place himself in between Carl and Shane's lifeless body. "It's not what it looks like!" He pleaded._

_"He'll never be the same." Shane taunted as be lurched towards him. "It should have been you."_

_"No! Nooooooo!" Rick screamed._

"Shh shhh shhh...Rick it's ok, I've got you." Michonne's voice pulled him out of his nightmare. She had climbed into the bed next to him, cradling him in her arms like a child.

It took a moment for him to register his surroundings as he instinctively held on to Michonne.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. "Did I wake you up?" He tried to relax into her embrace, but every muscle felt tense. His head pounded and his mouth felt dry, he wondered how loud he had been screaming.

"No it's ok, I was returning from being on watch and I heard you screaming. What happened?"

"Just a bad dream again." He clung to her, his body exhausted but his mind racing with the images of the dream. Michonne stroked his hair while his laboured breathing returned to normal. Her face was full of concern.

"Did you get them before?" She asked softly.

"Not really. Not like this." Rick felt embarrassed as he wiped his face. "It's dumb really." His voice was shaky. They lay there in silence for a while, Michonne still stroking his hair and rubbing his back as he let silent tears fall from his eyes.

"Tell me..." She said softly. "Tell me about Shane."

Rick took a deep, shuddering breath. He rolled onto his back and rubbed at his brow with his thumb and forefinger he considered the best way to tell the story.

He started at the beginning. In high school when Shane played football and basketball and was the star of the wrestling team, while Rick ran track and had dismal luck with girls. Rick couldn't remember who had the idea first to join the police, but he told Michonne how they carried each other through the academy, how each others weaknesses were the others strengths. Shane had always been the doer and Rick the thinker. Shane would tackle every situation head-on whereas Rick would hang back and consider all the options.

He told her about how they graduated first and second from the academy, pointedly saying that he was first and Shane second. Michonne smiled at how much it still mattered to him. Encouraging him in his story. He detailed how he met Lori, and married young with Shane as his best man. When Carl was born and Shane took to his role as uncle in a way no one expected of him. For a second Rick stopped, he swallowed back his tears as he thought about how in different circumstances Shane would have made a great father.

He took a deep breath before moving onto the next part of the story. The day he got shot seemed like the day the world changed. Though everyone had filled in the gaps for him the best they could, he was still stunned at how it happened. It was a plot directly from a movie, guy gets shot, winds up in a coma, wakes up to the dawn of the end of the world. Even as he described it to Michonne it felt like the synopsis of movie he'd seen. But it was his life, it happened, still all these years later it seemed bizarre.

His voice lowered as he described the next part, about finding Morgan, finding his family and Shane. The moment he realised something had happened with Shane and Lori, and the moment he confronted Lori about it and then Shane. It was six years ago, but the rage still burned inside him. Michonne's mouth fell open at the revelation, and finally Rick felt vindicated in his anger towards them. Everyone else had brushed over the issue, or not wanted to talk to Rick about it.

Finally he relayed the story of the farm to Michonne. He imagined that she knew a fair bit of the story from Andrea, but it turned out that Andrea had been kind of oblivious to what was going on for the most part. Michonne's stomach burned as she remembered her friend, how her Mike and Andre had found her in the woods and taken her in. How they'd been misguided when they found Woodbury, and how Andrea hadn't followed them to the prison and to safety.

She gripped Rick's hand as he told her about Randall and the night Shane died. He remembered their exchange almost word for word, he remembered what Carl was wearing when he found them and shot Shane when he re-animated. He remembered the look on Shane's face as he plunged the knife into his chest. He remembered the feeling as if it was yesterday. A part of Rick had died on that field along with Shane that night, and he had stopped trying to bring it back.

"I know Judith isn't mine." He finished with after a pause. Michonne felt his heart break, and hers broke along with it as he said it. "I love her, she's my daughter, but she's not mine."

The only other person he'd said it to was Lori, and that was always in anger or the middle of an argument. She brushed it aside each time, not wanting to delve into the complexity of the matter.

"It doesn't matter who made her." Michonne said carefully. "There's not a man in the world, alive or dead who could love her the way you do."

Rick nodded. It felt good for someone else to finally know. The burden he'd been carrying for so long seemed lighter somehow. He was glad that Michonne was the person he shared it with, but was worried that it would make her think less of him.

"I'm sorry. That was quite a heavy story." He said, realising she was still holding his hand. She was still there.

"Don't be sorry. I'm glad you told me." She interlocked her fingers in his and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry you've had to carry it with you this whole time."

Rick began to weep again with the relief. Michonne said nothing, she just held him. As he surrendered to her embrace he realised it had been years since he'd been held so close. She rested her cheek on his head as he let the tears flow.

"It's ok." She whispered to him. "You're ok."

Rick didn't speak again, his sobs slowly turned to deep breaths and Michonne realised he'd fallen asleep. She lay with him in the darkness for a while, planting a kiss on his forehead before she quietly slipped out of the room.


	12. Chapter 12

"Knock knock." Michonne said as she entered Rick's room. She was pleased to find him awake and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm here to change your dressing." She put down the gauze and antibiotic cream on the side.

He cleared his throat. "You were the one who disappeared on me this time." He said it softly, his eyebrows slightly raised as he looked at her.

"I know." She sat down next to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't know if you wanted me to stay with you or not." She covered his hand with her own.

"I did." He took a deep shuddering breath. "Thank you. For last night. I'm sorry to lay all of that on you."

She shook her head. "Don't apologise, I'm glad you told me."

"I hope you don't think any less of me." He closed his eyes, the memory of Shane was causing him physical pain. As if talking about him out loud made him real again. Michonne noted he looked exhausted. She wondered if he had actually managed to sleep once she had left him.

"Think less of you?" She gently pushed him back onto the bed to access his dressing. She shook her head as she leaned over him. "No way. I'm just sad it had to go down that way."

"So am I." He sighed.

"Let's try and have a nice day." Michonne decided with a smile. Rick nodded, his own tired smile crossing his face.

She removed the old pad of gauze, ensuring that she didn't hurt him too much while she did it.

"Your pants are hanging off you." She casually pulled at his baggy waistband. It made him jump.

"You're obsessed with my weight." He teased once he regained his composure.

"No...I just prefer you with a bit more meat on your bones."

"I know. Don't think I haven't noticed the extra dumplings I get when you serve dinner!"

"Well I wouldn't complain about that." She reached over to get the antibiotic cream, squeezing some out onto her finger. "I'll try not to hurt you, this is gonna be a little cold." She swiped as gently as she could over the angry-looking incision between his ribs.

"Urgh." He tried to stifle his cry of pain. He gripped her thigh instinctively.

"Sorry."

"It's ok."

"It's all done now." She said as she re-dressed the wound. "I have your medicine too." She rattled a plastic box full of pills. "Coedine and antibiotics, you are a lucky boy."

"Not that lucky. They stopped giving me morphine." He tutted as he washed down the tablets. "How come Doctor Carson has you doing all this?" He gestured to the medical supplies.

"I'm just doing my bit. Can't spend all day writing that charter." She shrugged. "Now, you think you fancy a walk? Glenn has made you breakfast but it's in the dining room."

"Only if you eat with me?" He reasoned, the sparkle returning to his blue eyes.

"Deal." She said as she threw a black tee shirt towards him. "No nudity at the table I'm afraid."

He finished dressing himself and the pair of them slowly made their way down the stairs to the dining room, Rick slightly woozy, an effect of the medication more than anything else and Michonne in close proximity ready to steady him if he fell.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Glenn greeted Rick from the stovetop. "Oatmeal all round this morning."

"Sounds perfect." Rick smiled.

Michonne grabbed bowls for them both and spooned ladle-fuls of the oatmeal into them.

"How was your walk down here?" Glenn asked as he began washing up from the rest of breakfast.

"Fine." Rick nodded as be hungrily devoured the thick oatmeal, it had been years since he'd had it made with milk. He made a mental note to try and set up a trade deal with Hilltop to get more for Alexandria. "Thinking I might try and venture outside later."

"Cool, good plan." He nodded earnestly, in the sincere way Glenn always did anything. "Take it easy though."

"I will." Rick scraped the end of the bowl. Still licking his lips.

"Have some more if you want?" Michonne said keenly, already taking his bowl to fulfill his silent request.

"I'll see you guys later." Glenn had finished the washing up. "Me and Jesus are off on a Thanksgiving run."

Rick and Michonne waved their goodbyes and sat in a companionable silence as Rick finished his second bowl.

"Shall I go and get our coats?" She asked as he finished his last mouthful. "We can go for a little walk."

He grinned, happy that he and Michonne were getting this time together. Thankful as well that she still seemed to actually want to spend time with him following his revelations the previous night. Rick went to wash their bowls as Michonne went to get their coats.

* * *

Hilltop had changed a lot since Rick had last been there. Maggie had pretty much trippled the crop growth, and set up a little school room for Andre and the other kids. It was a beautiful community, Rick realised as they weaved through the gardens. God only knows where she found chickens, but sure enough there was a chicken coop built alongside all the crops. There was a whole field of cows, Maggie had practically turned it into a working farm in a matter of weeks. It felt nice to be out in the fresh air, it felt even nicer to be doing it with Michonne.

"Hi Rick." Doctor Carson called from the doorway of the infirmary. "How you doing? I was on my way to see you."

"No need now. I'll come to you." Rick made his way over, his footing felt more sure than it had the past few days.

"Hop up on the bed." The doctor ordered. "I think it's about time to remove those stitches. How are you feeling?"

"Good." Rick nodded. He did look good, Michonne thought. His skin was back to his normal colour, the bruising and swelling had gone down around his eye and all traces of the infection seemed to be gone thanks to the antibiotics he'd had pumped into his system. She realised this meant he would be heading home soon, back to Alexandria and away from her.

"Yeah, this is looking good." He peeled back the dressing that Michonne had applied that morning and removed the four stitches that lined the wound. He gently re-applied the dressing and took Rick's blood pressure, temperature and heart rate. "Well you have two days left on your antibiotics, so I want to make certain the infection is gone after that. But then I'd say you're free to go."

Rick smiled, but felt an odd swell of sadness at the thought of returning home. He was keen to get back to the bridge, and eager to see Carl and Judith, but he had enjoyed being around Michonne again.

"Thanks for all your help, Harlan." Rick shook the doctor's hand. "I owe you one."

"No problem. Just come and see me when you've finished your antibiotics." He patted Rick on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're ok."

"That's good news?" Michonne said to Rick as they stepped outside again.

"Yeah." He forced a smile. "It'll be nice to get home."

"I bet." Was all she could manage. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat, swallowed the annoyance she felt at herself that she was sad he was going home. He was getting better, she convinced herself, that's a good thing. "You wanna head back to your room? You must be exhausted."

"I'm ok here." He nodded. "Can we go see that?" He pointed up to the rooftop garden. "I've never been there before."

"Sure if you're feeling up to it." She changed her walking direction to lead him to the steps.

"Mmhmm I feel good." He said it with certainty, but his voice was beginning to sound weary and Michonne noticed he was a little breathless.

"Ok." She eyed him as she said it. "But then back to bed alright?"

"Alright." He relented as they climbed the narrow wooden stairs.

The rooftop garden was beautiful. Every colour of flower bloomed from the plant pots that lined it, the grass was a luscious green colour and there were a couple of benches with umbrellas to sit on. Rick sat down and beckoned Michonne to sit next to him.

"It looks beautiful from up here." He mused, it was a rare mild November. The leaves had only just started falling from the trees, a lot of them were still peppered with orange and red and yellow.

"I love fall." Michonne nodded. "And it's so peaceful up here." She leaned her head on Rick's shoulder.

"Mmhmm." Rick agreed as he put his arm around her.

They sat there listening to the hustle and bustle of the community going on beneath them. It felt like a kind of forced vacation for Rick, who hadn't taken a break in years. His head felt clearer and he felt calmer than he had in a long while.

His body still reacted to being close to Michonne, he felt his breath quicken and his cheeks flush at the physical contact. His face he was sure was fixed in an enormous smile. And while he longed for her, he knew that he would be happy like this. This was enough, Rick thought, as he rested his cheek atop Michonne's head. If they could be nothing else, this was enough for him.


	13. Chapter 13

Rick's final night at Hilltop fell on 'pizza Friday', the new monthly event that Glenn had invented using his long forgotten pizza making skills from before the outbreak began.

"Make yourself useful?" He shouted to Rick as he passed the kitchen. Rick peered into the door to see Glenn juggling floury balls of dough, the tomato sauce and baby Beth. "She needs a nap." He gestured to his daughter writhing in his arms.

"I got it ." Rick nodded as he took over kneeding the dough. "Take your time." He waved off Glenn and Beth.

Rick stood for a few minutes rolling the dough, seasoning the sauce and grating the cheese for the pizzas. He was smiling to himself in silent enjoyment when his favourite voice echoed from the doorway.

"What are you smiling at?" Michonne leaned against the doorway with her own wide smile adorning her face.

"Nothin'" He shrugged. "This is kind of fun."

"I know right? When was the last time you just did something like this." She walked into the kitchen, sneaking a handful of chopped peppers from the side. She hoisted herself onto the worktop to enjoy them.

"God knows." His eyes flicked with a frown to her handful of contraband. "That nice?" He raised his eyebrow playfully.

"Delicious thank you." She smirked. Rick playfully flicked flour at her from the excess on his hands. "Oh so you wanna start?" Michonne hooped off the counter to dip her hand in the bowl of flour. She ran her floured hand down his dark denim shirt, only stopping when she reached his belt.

"Oh!" Rick chuckled. "It's on!

They reached into the flour at the same time, simultaneously covering one another in the powder. They coughed as they became devoured in the plume of white. Michonne held Rick back while she grabbed more and wiped it on his face. She turned to get more.

He held onto her from behind, his strong arms encasing her ribcage. Her infectious giggles causing him to laugh too. She rubbed her hands on his jeans, taking a little more time than necessary, her hand a little higher up than it needed to be. Rick dropped his arms slightly so he was loosely holding her waist.

"Don't make me elbow you in your broken ribs!" Michonne teased. Rick relented, not least because he was certain if he held her pressed against him for a moment longer his already semi-hard dick would turn into a full erection.

"Look at the state of you." He laughed as she turned round to face him.

"You should see yourself." She ran her hands through his long hair as he shook out the flour.

"Shame on you." He tutted. "Wasting all those ingredients." He softly brushed the flour from her cheeks.

"Am I covered in it?" She asked softly, trying to catch sight of herself in the mirrored oven. Rick shook his head.

"Beautiful as ever." Their faces were practically touching they were so close together. He still held her face in his hands. Michonne wondered if she imagined it or if he actually did just lick his lips and tilt his head slightly. She hedged her bets and closed her eyes, moving ever closer to him. Their lips connected.

Michonne inhaled. It was like the first time only better. She felt the same warm feeling devour her as she readily opened her mouth. Rick responded in kind, she felt him softly moan as her tongue found his.

Their kiss was short, but Michonne felt herself being pulled to him like a magnet. They stayed for a moment with their foreheads pushed together. She dared to open her eyes, Rick's mouth was open as if he was about to say something.

"Oh. Sorry guys." Glenn was back. They sprung apart more readily than they needed to, practically ending up on opposite ends of the kitchen. "I didn't mean to interrupt any..."

"Nothing." Rick shook his head fervently. "You didn't interupt anything." But his face was bright red.

Michonne nodded in agreement. "I was just heading out anyway." She purposefully headed towards the door.

"See you later." Glenn smiled at her. He made his way towards the stovetop and towards Rick, his smile was so wide he was almost laughing. He squeezed Rick's shoulder.

"What?" Rick played dumb.

"Nothing." Glenn chuckled, stirring the sauce with faux nonchalance.

"Nothing happened." He iterated, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

"Ok." Glenn nodded his head, eyebrows raised. "Guess I owe Maggie $5."

Rick burst out laughing. He threw the kitchen towel at Glenn.

"Lucky no one has any money nowadays then isn't it?" He mocked. "Smartass." He said under his breath.

* * *

"This is so good." Rick smiled Glenn as he finished his final slice of pizza. "When did you get time to build that oven?"

"Jesus and I found it." Glenn leaned back in his chair. "Hauled it into the back of the van."

"Your dedication never ceases to amaze me." Rick rested his back against his own chair, he let his head fall back too against the wall. He and Glenn sat on the huge porch of the big house, a little apart from everyone else.

Rick let his eyes absent mindedly drift to Michonne. She was sat on the grass with Andre, Hershel and Maggie stringing beads onto bracelets they were making. He couldn't even see her face, just the back of her head, but he was transfixed by her. The effortless way she moved, the way he could tell when she was laughing or smiling even from behind as her whole body exuded happiness.

"You should go for it." Glenn piped up, following Rick's gaze.

"What?" Rick kept his eyes on the scene in front of him. Michonne stood up, brushing the grass from her pants and taking Andres hands to help him up too. Maggie followed with Hershel. They walked in Rick and Glenn's direction.

"Daddy, Andre is sleeping in my room tonight!" Hershel said in his matter of fact way.

"Ok." Glenn smiled as he kissed his son goodnight. Maggie brushed her hand along Glenn's arm as she walked past, offering him a quick pat on the shoulder before departing. Michonne smiled at Rick. Both men watched as they made their way along the grand corridor of the large house.

"I said you should go for it." Glenn reiterated when they were out of earshot. "Life's short."

"Go for what?" Rick played dumb for the second time that day, but a slight smile sneaked through as it always seemed to do when he thought of Michonne. Glenn cocked an eyebrow at him. "I don't know." He relented. "I kind of tried once before but...she doesn't want to."

"I wouldn't be so sure that's still the case." Glenn mused.

"It's complicated." Rick shrugged. He stared down at the empty lemonade class in his hands. "I'm going home tomorrow." He ached at the thought of leaving their little bubble of the past couple of weeks.

"It's as complicated as you make it, dude." Glenn stood up from his seat, taking Rick's glass from him and heading inside.

Rick sat for a while on the porch as darkness fell on his last night at Hilltop. Michonne still hadn't come back out, Rick hoped she hadn't gone to bed already or decided to stay with Maggie and the children.

"Here goes nothin'" He mumbled to himself as he headed inside looking for his girl.


	14. Chapter 14

"I found you." Rick grinned as he closed his bedroom door. He'd began to lose hope when he hadn't been able to find Michonne anywhere.

"You did." She got up from the bed where she was sat reading one of the books that he'd borrowed from the library. "I thought you'd never come." Her breath suddenly felt short as he entered the room.

"I brought you a brownie." He set the plate down on the chest of drawers. "I'm not sure how it tastes. They have beetroot in them, and no sugar. According to Glenn, Alexandria were meant to bring some over, but forgot. So I'll be kicking someone's ass for that I assure you." He stopped himself, aware that he was rambling like a fourth grader. "I...uh...was looking for you to say ...thank you. For taking care of me."

"You don't have to say thank you. It's what we do." She broke off a small piece of the brownie to nibble, just to busy her hands. Rick was right, it wasn't great.

Rick nodded as he chewed at his lip. That wasn't what he had wanted to say, he'd bottled it.

"What did you...why were you waiting here..." He asked, for some reason feeling nervous.

"Seems kind of stupid now." Michonne looked down at the floor.

"Why?" He was biting down so hard on his lip he was surprised he couldn't taste blood.

It was rare for Michonne to be lost for words. She prided herself on her oratorical skills, and her ability to stay silent when necessary but rarely did she find herself dumbstruck. Yet standing in front of Rick Grimes, in his bedroom, she was suddenly silent.

"I'm gonna miss you." Was all she managed to say, finally lifting her head to look into his eyes.

"C'mere." He took her hands gently in his and pulled her towards him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her in. She laid her head on his chest and relaxed into him. "I'm gonna miss you too." He whispered. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with her scent.

He kissed her forehead and, when she lifted her face up to look at him, he seized his moment to kiss her lips for the second time that day. He took a moment to delight in how soft they felt against his before pulling back, he smiled at her. Her smile in response was the permission he needed to kiss her again.

He pulled her body closer as he used his tongue to part her lips, trying not to rush it but at the same time hungry for more of her. He sucked at her bottom lip until she moaned into his mouth. She moved her hands from his neck to unbutton his shirt. She must have been able to feel his heart thudding.

"Hey..." He pulled back, wary of what happened the last time they went down this road. "We don't have to..."

"Shut up." Michonne said as she returned to their kiss and pulled his shirt down over his shoulders and disguarded it onto the floor. The realisation that this was actually happening turned Rick on even more, their kiss became even frantic. Their hands explored each others bodies, Rick's hand found its way into Michonne's pants and he cupped her plump ass cheek.

Michonne pulled her own top off, throwing it on top of Ricks. She looped her finger around his belt loop to encourage him towards the bed. She lay back and he fell clumsily on top of her.

"Argh!" He cried out in pain. Forgetting for a moment the reason he was even at Hilltop.

"Rick! I'm so sorry." She couldn't help but laugh slightly at his grimace. "Let's stop."

"No fucking way." He smiled through the pain as he climbed off her and lay down next to her, propping himself up on his good side.

Michonne gently ran her fingers up and down his torso, tracing the bruising around his ribs and chest and stopping as she reached the small wound that had all but healed. She had made light of the situation, but the tiny incision between his ribs had almost killed him. When Siddiq, Daryl and Heath had showed up in the middle of the night shouting for help carrying Rick's limp body she had assumed the worst.

Even over the next few hours while Doctor Carson managed to stabilise him and he woke up, she had refused to believe he would survive. She waited with Glenn and Maggie outside the infirmary until the sun rose and the day got underway. She only moved from the steps when the doctor told them he was waking up and Glenn rushed to his side.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing her hand resting on his chest and her face deep in thought.

"I was so worried about you." She finally admitted.

"I'm sorry." He cupped her face in his hand. "It's that stupid bridge, and those stupid saviours. And my stupid need to get it done quick." He shrugged and shook his head. "I didn't want to scare you."

"I'm glad you're ok. And I'm glad you're here."

"You're glad I got sepsis?" He kissed her lips. "That's sick." Michonne giggled.

"You know what I mean." She leaned up to kiss him this time.

"I'm glad too." He said as she climbed on top of him, careful not to put any weight on his injured side.

She trailed kisses downward paying close attention to his nipples as she flicked her tongue over them. Rick undid the clasps on her bra to free her breasts from their confines. He moaned as she made her way downwards, her nipples hardening as they brushed against his skin.

Michonne undid his belt and he lifted his hips as she pulled his pants off. She slowly pulled his boxers down, revealing his hard length as it sprung from them. The tip glistened with precum and she licked it off, savouring the salty taste on her tongue.

She went to work on his long dick, enjoying the gutteral moans that emanated from his mouth as she sucked and pumped him to near oblivion. She enjoyed feeling his hand tangled in her locs guiding himself in and out of her mouth.

"I need to be inside you." He groaned. She relented, climbing off for just enough time to take off her own clothing before climbing back on.

Sucking his dick had made her so wet that she wasted no time lowering herself onto him. Even though Rick Grimes exuded big dick energy, she was under prepared for his full length and girth and she gasped as he filled her to the brim.

"Everything ok." He said through gritted teeth, trying to control himself as she clenched him with her blissfully warm walls. It had been a long time. Longer than Rick even cared to admit, and he didn't want to put in a poor performance for Michonne.

Michonne nodded, she rocked back and fourth while she acclimated to the feeling of him inside her. She leaned forward to kiss him as she rode him, his cock hitting her g-spot with seeming little effort. Rick roamed her back with his hands, settling them on her ass he pulled her closer to him still.

He needed to distract himself before he came right then and there. His palms rubbed her ass in rhythmic circles, his index fingers teasing between her cheeks. He leaned up to kiss her neck, pausing to suck and lick at her sweet skin.

Michonne held onto the headboard behind Rick, using the leverage to push herself deeper onto him. She could feel her climax building slowly in the pit of her stomach, it threatened to consume her. She closed her eyes to absorb the feeling.

She came with an elongated moan, her knuckles turning white from gripping the headboard so hard. She rode Rick's cock until the aftershocks stopped, never breaking her rhythm.

"Get off." He warned, ready to explode from the effort of holding back. She lifted herself off him just in time as his orgasm took over his body. She kissed him, running her hands through his hair as he stroked himself to oblivion.

Michonne rolled to the side and flopped next to him. Neither of them said anything for a while. They interlocked their fingers as they lay absorbing what had just happened.

Rick leaned over to give Michonne a kiss on her shoulder. She giggled.

"I gotta say...you guys have made me feel very welcome here." He drawled. "I wish I could stay."

"You can?" She turned to him with a sigh as she said it.

"You know I can't." He ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Well when you've built that bridge it won't take too long to get here." She reasoned.

"If you do that to me every time I don't care how long it takes to get here." He growled.

"Sounds like a deal." She smiled.

"Now." Rick moved to clean himself up and return to his station next to Michonne. "You're not gonna disappear on me again are you?"

"Well that depends." She kissed him. "You gonna make it worth my while?"

Rick moaned as Michonne's hands roamed his body, his cock already twitching ready for round two.

"Definitely."

* * *

Since the apocalypse began, Michonne had got used to waking up in new and unusual ways. But this morning, with Rick Grimes between her legs, his beard tickling her inner thighs while his warm tongue lapped at her most sensitive area, she had to admit was her favourite.

She tugged at his hair, squirming in ecstacy as he continued his relentless assault. She was delirious with pleasure. After their night of passion she wasn't sure she had another orgasm left in her, but Rick was determined.

His tongue moved in rhythmic circles around her engorged bud, while his fingers worked inside her. She felt the waves building again as she let him take her to the brink. She surrendered to yet another toe-curling orgasm, bucking her hips against his tongue. He licked and sucked her until he'd consumed every drop of her pleasure.

Rick crawled back up the bed to find Michonnes mouth. She loved that his kisses tasted of her. She needed to repay the favour. She reached down to find his warm cock, already pulsating fit to burst.

"Mmmm baby." He moaned into her neck as she pumped him up and down. It wouldn't take long. He gripped at the soft flesh at her hips while he lined her neck and collarbone with kisses. He writhed at her touch, her expert hand already in tune with his desires.

With a low grunt he released into her hand, she drew out her long strokes until his orgasm had fully subsided. He rolled off her breathless and smiling.

"Those sheets are gonna need a wash." He chuckled softly.

"They need to be burned." Michonne remembered the previous night wistfully as she laughed too.

They both lay still, Rick's arm draped comfortably across her stomach. Neither of them wanting to be the one to address the elephant in the room.

"I...uh...I'm sorry." Rick finally said.

"For what?" Michonne shifted her head slightly so that she was staring at his blue eyes.

"I complicated it again didn't I?"

"Don't be sorry. I like it a little complicated." She smiled as she traced shapes on his forearm. "I was scared before. Now I don't know what I was scared of."

"I have to leave in a little while." He warned. "And I don't know what this is. But I like it."

"That's ok. It'll be what it'll be." She gave him a reassuring pat on the cheek. "I'm not scared anymore."

"Me neither." Even though his beard had grown out, Michonne could still see his cheeks dimple slightly as he sucked them in. He gave her a lingering peck on the lips.

They heard Daryl's motorbike draw up outside.

"Is THAT how you're getting home?" Michonne said, horrified.

"What's wrong with that?" Rick seemed genuinely confused by the question. He reluctantly rolled away from her to find his clothes.

"You were at deaths door literally two weeks ago. You have a hundred broken ribs!"

"Are you worried about me darlin'? That's cute." He leaned over to give her another quick peck on the lips.

"You're gonna be getting up close and personal with Daryl Dixon when you smell like sex." She teased, drawing the bedsheets up around herself.

"Daryl doesn't know what sex smells like." Rick joked. He knocked on the window to gesture to Daryl that he was on his way down. He pulled his clothes back on, wincing slightly at the effort.

"Please be careful!" She warned.

"I always am." He flashed her a reassuring smile as he picked up his holdall.

She shook her head at him. "See you at Christmas?"

Rick nodded. "If I don't make it out here before."

With one final kiss for Michonne he was out of the door.


	15. Chapter 15

Michonne took a deep breath as she drew up to the gates of Alexandria. The slow crunch of the gravel underneath the wheels of the horse drawn car was the only sound that punctured the cool afternoon air. It was Christmas Eve. She turned to Andre, he was a little restless after their journey, but he screwed up his nose as he smiled at her.

"You ready, baby?" She smiled back at her son, but she was talking more to herself. Andre nodded fervently.

The huge iron gates squeaked open, their formidable presence signified home. They rode across the threshold to be greeted by a familiar face.

"Hey! My boy!" Mike's face lit up as he spotted his son. He lifted Andre from the car. "You're heavy." He groaned.

"Daddy you're dirty." Andre wrinkled his nose and squirmed to be let down. Mike let out a booming chuckle as he set his son down on the pavement.

"You are!" Michonne surveyed Mike, who normally looked pristine, and noticed his face and arms covered in dirt. "Unlike you to get your hands dirty." Mike was a professor of physics in their old life, and normally favoured more of a research role like Eugene than a physical role.

"Oh yeah." He laughed as he fruitlessly scrubbed at the ground in dirt on his arm. "I've been helping Rick at the bridge." Her heart jumped at the mention of his name. She raised her eyebrows.

"I'm impressed." She nodded.

"It's kinda been all hands on deck to get it finished before the new year." He reasoned. "Rick's a good guy." He looked at her pointedly, she ignored him. "So I thought I'd help out."

"These horses need a rest and a drink." She said, excusing herself. "He probably needs a run around." She gestured to Andre who was already making a beeline for the park.

"I'll see you later." Mike nodded as he waved her off.

She led the horses to the stable where they could rest and drink in the warm. It has been a cold windy ride from Hilltop.

"Hey Michonne!" Carl's cheery voice greeted her at the stable.

"Hey Carl. You earning your keep?" Michonne liked Carl, he was turning out to be almost a carbon copy of his father, but with a lot more optimism and a lot less uptight. They had bonded in the prison over their shared love of comic books, no matter how much she had tried, Michonne couldn't get Andre to like comic books. But with Carl she used to stay up late, reading by torchlight and eating stale M&M's.

"Yeah, I guess this was the only place my mom thought safe enough to work." He frowned. "I wanted to do dad's old police shifts, but I ended up here." He shrugged. "Better than homework at least." He greeted the horses with an affectionate pat on their long noses.

"Most things are better than homework." Michonne confirmed as she tore a handful of hay from a nearby bale and fed it to each horse in turn. Looking around the stable she noticed the absence of Rick's horse.

"Is your dad out?" She questioned cautiously, always conscious of giving herself away especially to Carl.

"Oh yeah he's at the bridge." Carl barely looked up from the pail he was filling with water.

Michonne felt a wave of dread at the thought of him out there again. She hadn't even considered that he might be back up and working so soon after his accident, though knowing Rick she probably could have guessed.

"I didn't realise he was working again."

Carl laughed. "He basically went straight there from Hilltop. He really wants to get it finished, I guess."

Michonne shook her head.

"He'll work himself into the ground, your father."

"He'll be pleased to see you though." Carl said with a raised eyebrow. Michonne knew there was no way that Rick would have told Carl, of all people, what happened at Hilltop, but she couldn't hide her embarrassment at his statement.

"It's nice to be back." She said definitively, with as little emotion as she could muster.

* * *

A Christmas Eve gathering was well underway at the house Michonne used to share with Sasha, Tara and Denise. She was impressed at how nicely they'd managed to decorate it for Christmas. They'd found some old fake Christmas trees, a load of decorations and somehow Tara and Heath had even found some mistletoe.

"Where did you find the gifts?" Michonne marvelled, noticing the wrapped presents underneath the tree.

"They're not that great." Tara whispered, swirling the eggnog round in her cup. Michonne giggled. "You hangin round the mistletoe for anyone special this year?" Her friend probed.

"Kinda slim pickings round here isn't it?" Michonne played off her question. Her eyes scanned the room for perhaps the hundredth time that evening. She didn't even know when Rick was thinking of heading home, let alone if he would come to the party. Lori had come and gone with Judith and Carl, and Michonne assumed he would go over there once he returned anyway. "I'm gonna get some air." She smiled at Tara, the alcohol on an empty stomach had caused her to feel a bit woozy.

She headed out to the porch and let the cold Virginia air fill her lungs. Even in the apocalypse, Christmas Eve brought a feeling of peace and calm to the world. Michonne smiled to herself at the thought of Andre in the morning waking up to find Santa had eaten his cookie, drank his milk and filled his stocking with the candy that they'd found on their run to the movie theatre.

"Someone's happy." The unmistakable Southern drawl came out of the darkness, shocking her back to the present. She'd played this moment in her head a dozen times, and in no version of it did Rick make her jump out of her skin in the dark. "Sorry." He laughed as she jumped. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"You look good." She noted. He'd clearly gone home to shower before making his way over. His hair was neatly slicked back, and his beard trimmed to the exact length she loved on him. He wore a clean white shirt that let her see he'd managed to gain back the weight she saw him lose when he was injured.

"You look better." His eyes shamelessly roamed her body as he said it. She was glad she'd worn the new backless red dress that Jesus had found on a run into the city. There was a slit in the side that ran halfway up her thigh. She worried it might be a little risque for the gathering, but to see Rick stood in front of her practically salivating made it worthwhile.

"Where have you been?" She asked as he drew her in for a hug.

"At the bridge." He said softly into her ear. "We're almost done."

"You were meant to be taking it easy." She chastised, resting her hand on his firm chest.

"I have been. I let everyone else do the heavy lifting." He brushed her locs away from her face and cupped it in his hands. "You look beautiful." He leaned in to kiss her, gently savouring the feel of their lips together again.

"Not here." She whispered, smiling.

"Ok." He nodded, biting the corner of his lip. He was aware that he was staring at her face for far too long but couldn't help himself. "I should probably make an appearance." He jerked his head towards the door. They headed inside. "But I have plans for you later." He whispered as they crossed the threshold, gently running his hand down her back as he said it.

They seemlessly seperated as they re-entered the party. Michonne heading over to Sasha, Rick to Abraham and Eugene. For the next hour she made a point of crossing over to his side of the room to retrieve something from the kitchen, and brushing her nails down his arm as she passed him.

"You're killing me!" He whispered into her ear when he eventually found her in the kitchen pouring herself another drink. He came up behind her, his hands rested on her waist. His arousal was evident against her ass. Feeling brave he dropped his hand to feel the exposed skin on her thigh. She gasped.

"I don't know what you mean?" She breathed, feigning ignorance.

"You know exactly what I mean." He whispered. "You coming over in that dress, looking like that. It's not fair."

The party was in full swing, Rick had the foresight to close the door when he came in, but it still felt risky as his hand moved slowly under her dress. He peppered her neck with kisses as his fingers found their way to the outside of her panties. He caressed her up and down, moaning softly into her ear as she grew wetter beneath his touch.

"Let's go." She said.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Once again guys I cannot thank you enough for reading and commenting on this story. I love Richonne and miss them, so I feel like I'm kinda writing this for me, but I'm so happy that you are taking this journey with me! **

They didn't even bother to turn on the light. Rick's house has been empty when he left it earlier that evening, and he prayed that was still the case. His desire for Michonne had turned into a physical ache over the few weeks they'd been apart and he didn't want to waste a single second of their time together.

He groped at her ass and thighs, practically lifting her off the ground as he pulled her impossibly close to him. Their kiss was hungry and passionate, they each took turns to devour the other, their tongues locked together.

"Fuck...I've missed you." Rick whispered as they briefly paused for air.

Rick felt himself getting painfully aroused, if he didn't act soon they weren't going to even make it up the stairs. He lifted Michonne up and carried her through the house and upstairs, his palms kneeding her perfect ass as he sucked at her neck.

They tumbled down onto the bed, Rick lifted up her dress and rid her of her panties. He stood before her, slowly kissing his way down her leg, to her thighs and eventually to her pussy. He knelt down and pulled her almost off the bed, she hooked her feet over his shoulders.

He worked slowly at first, taking his time to explore her delicate folds and warm centre. Michonne gripped at his hair as his tongue revolved around her clit, he tantalised the bundle of nerves as his fingers rhythmically dipped in and out of her opening. She grabbed fistfuls of the bedspread as her orgasm neared, and came loudly, bucking her hips to meet his tongue.

He stood up, his eyes filled with lust. He pulled down his pants and boxers to reveal his rock hard dick. Her thick juices coated him as he pushed himself inside her. He threw his head back and exhaled deeply as he began thrusting. He hadn't even bothered to remove his shirt or her dress, such was his need to be inside her.

Michonne gasped once again at the thickness of his cock. Her pussy already pulsating from her first orgasm. She clenched him as he buried his length inside her and withdrew, she revelled in his moans and low grunts.

Both were thankful for the empty house as they lost their inhibitions. Rick letting a series of expletives as he neared his climax, Michonne alternating between crying out Rick's name and pleading with god. They reached their crescendo together and rode the waves of their orgasm until they were spent.

"Shit." Rick breathed, realising he had forgotten the number one rule of sex in a world without contraception. Michonne still unable to talk waved her hand to signify there was no point worrying about it now.

Rick pulled his shirt off and lay down next to Michonne on the bed.

"Merry Christmas darlin'" He said when their breathing had returned to normal.

"Merry Christmas." Michonne smiled as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. "Are you eating dinner at Deanna's tomorrow?"

Rick nodded.

"Don't be thinking you're leaving here yet though." His fingers were already dancing up her thighs, letting her know she was in for another all-nighter.

* * *

Michonne was surprised when the sun woke her up, she presumed Andre would come bursting into the spare room at Mike and Eugene's house where she had stayed. She quietly got dressed and made her way downstairs.

"Looks like we could have filled his stocking this morning." She whispered to Mike who was sat at the kitchen table.

"I know." He chuckled in his deep voice. "Well...I could have done, you weren't here for the stocking filling part."

"I was partying too hard." She brushed off his comment. In truth she had snuck in at 4am after a night of being dicked down by Rick Grimes, as if she was a teenager sneaking home from a party.

"Come on Michonne." Mike shook his head. "We're past all this now."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said coyly, but she was smiling. In truth, she didn't even need to lie to Mike anymore. Their relationship had improved so much since she had moved to Hilltop. They felt like friends, which they hadn't been in a long time. She poured herself some water and sat down opposite him at the table.

"Rick talked to me." He admitted. "He didn't divulge any details." He added quickly, seeing Michonne's shocked face. "But while we were working on the bridge he said he didn't feel he could go on not being honest with me about his feelings for you."

"And?" Michonne didn't really care about Mike's opinion of Rick, but she was curious as to how their conversation went down.

"I told him no problem." Mike shrugged. "He's a good guy, it's been over a year since we broke up. We're both moving on."

"Mmmmm." Michonne raised her eyebrow. "I have seen you getting close to a particular Ms Anderson."

"Naw." He dismissed her with a flap of his hand. "That was never goin' anywhere."

"Mommy! Daddy!" Andre interrupted them as he hurried down the stairs carrying his stocking. "Santa's been!"

"Santa?! No way!" Michonne scooped Andre up in her arms. She struggled to lift him now he was a lanky seven year old, but she persisted nonetheless. She covered his face with kisses until he squirmed away from her. "Merry Christmas, baby." She planted one more kiss on his face for good measure before he made his escape.

* * *

A knock at the door woke Rick on Christmas morning. It was Judith and Carl.

"Merry Christmas!" They chanted in unison as Rick stood in front of them in his bathrobe.

"Merry Christmas guys! Come in come in!" He beckoned them into his modestly decorated living room where their gifts were set out under the tree. He rubbed at his eyes, groggily trying to rouse himself from the few hours of sleep he and Michonne had gotten the night before.

They stepped inside the house laden with gifts of their own.

"This is from mom." Carl held out a brown A4 envelope to Rick. He took it and put it to one side, not wanting to sour the mood by opening it if it was something sarcastic or bitter.

"You guys go first." Rick yawned. "Judy yours is that one in green, Carl yours is in red."

"Cooooool - thanks dad!" Carl marvelled as he ripped the paper off his new stack of comic books that Rick had found when he and Daryl went on their Christmas shopping run a week ago.

Judith took a little longer to open her gift, taking her time to delicately peel back the layers of paper. Her face lit up when she saw what was inside.

"A doll's house?" She stared at Rick wide eyed.

"Yeah, and look at the little furniture too." He turned it round for her to look inside. "And the people for you to play with."

"I love it so much daddy, thank you." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"No problem baby girl...now, have you guys had breakfast? I can make us some pancakes!"

"I'll make them dad!" Carl bounced up from his seat. "You relax."

"Who are you and what have you done with Carl?" Rick chuckled as he settled himself back into his chair.

"Eric's been teaching us cooking at this semester." Carl shrugged. "Turns out I'm actually pretty good." Rick felt a pang at the lack of time he'd spent in Alexandria the past few weeks, with being injured at Hilltop and working on the bridge he had hardly seen his children. He didn't even know what Carl was learning at school. He vowed to himself to be better in the new year, to be at home more.

Judith was settled playing with her dolls house and Rick used the opportunity to go upstairs and get dressed. He took the envelope from Lori upstairs with him to open. He retrieved his festive sweater from the back of the wardrobe, grimacing as he caught sight of himself in the mirror. The gaudy red colour, the picture of Rudolph adorning the front...he looked ridiculous. But he kept it on, thinking that the kids at least would enjoy it.

He sat on the bed and hesitantly removed the sheets of paper from inside the envelope. He was shocked to see it was divorce papers, carefully written in Deanna's calligraphy, signed by Lori and witnessed by Deanna and Spencer. There was just a blank space by his name waiting for his signature. He smiled. It was a bittersweet gift, but it was the closure Rick had wanted for so long now.

He tucked the papers away in his dresser, vowing to sign them as soon as the festive period was over. Finalising a divorce on Christmas Day was a little too depressing for Rick to contemplate.

"Pancakes are ready!" Carl called up the stairs. He burst out laughing as Rick came to the top of the stairs in his Christmas sweater. "What are you wearing?"

"Tara found them on a run." Rick shook his head. "She insisted we wear them."

"I ain't wearing mine." Daryl growled as he emerged from his bedroom bleary-eyed.

"Scrooge." Carl teased as he went to serve up the pancakes.

"Like hell you aren't. If I gotta look stupid, you are too." Rick made his way downstairs.

"I'll see how I feel after my coffee." Daryl stumbled down after Rick. The effects of a little too much eggnog becoming apparent as he slumped down on the couch. "Merry Christmas everyone."

Rick chuckled as he poured himself and Daryl a coffee.

"How long did you stay for last night?" He quizzed as he handed his friend the steaming cup.

"God knows." Daryl shook his head. "Way past midnight. You disappeared early though."

"Yeah...uh...I was kinda exhausted. You know parties aren't really my thing..." Rick busied himself stirring milk into his coffee to hide his deep crimson cheeks.

"Mmmhmmm?" Daryl smirked at him over his coffee cup, not wanting to give anything more away in front of Rick's children.

"These pancakes look good." Rick changed the subject, surveying the spread Carl had laid out for them.

"Did you make some strawberries for mine?" Judith asked as she tore herself away from her dolls house to climb onto her chair.

"Yes Judith, I _made_ some strawberries." Carl rolled his eyes as they sat down to eat.

Rick looked around the table at his mish-mashed family scene, his children and their uncle Daryl eating Christmas pancakes. "Where's Carol?" He suddenly noticed the absence of his housemate.

"Where'd you think?" Asked Daryl. Rick shrugged at him, clueless. "Do you even live here?"

"She'll be at Morgan's." Carl confirmed. "They've been dating for ages." He shrugged. "Dwayne told me months ago."

"Months ago?" Rick shook his head.

"Months ago." Carl confirmed.

"How does my 16 year old kid know more about what's goin' on than I do?" Rick mused, returning for a second helping of pancakes and syrup.

"I know way more than people give me credit for."

Rick raised his eyebrow at Carl, bemused. He remembered being 16 and thinking he had everything figured out.

"Finish your food up." Rick turned to his children. "We're gonna have a snowball fight."


	17. Chapter 17

"Nice sweater." Michonne teased as she approached Rick, she had a glass of red wine in her hand. The red dress she wore yesterday evening was replaced by a long dark green evening gown. Her hair was pulled back, leaving her chest and neck exposed. Rick made no attempt to hide his roaming eyes as he took in every element of her attire.

"Tara!" He shook his head as he glanced in Tara's direction, noticing that she herself didn't actually have a Christmas sweater.

"I like it." Michonne smiled. "It makes you look even more handsome."

"Well thank you." He bowed his head to her. Feeling brave he placed his hand on her hip and leaned in to kiss her cheek. She smiled and he moved his hand to the small of her back and kept it there. It felt nice to have physical contact with her in public, it felt like the start of something. "You look amazing tonight." He whispered in her ear. She smiled as he kissed her cheek again.

They stood in happy silence as they watched Judith and Andre playing together with the Marvel action figures that Michonne had got for him while on a Christmas shopping run with Glenn and Jesus. Rick kept his hand on her back, gently stroking her with the tips of his fingers.

A few moments later Lori entered the house, Michonne felt Rick's body tense up as he inhaled. He rubbed at his beard as he always seemed to do when he was agitated.

"Excuse me for a second." He said as he made a beeline for Lori.

"Merry Christmas." Lori nodded curtly to Rick.

"Merry Christmas." He smiled at her. "And thanks for the present." He said it quietly so only she could hear.

"Well it's what you wanted." Her face was fixed in a smile as she said it through clenched teeth. An homage to when they were together and keeping up appearances in public, usually in the midst of a disagreement. "Bet it's nice to have your girlfriend back?" She nodded in Michonne's direction. Her smile was so false by now that it looked more like a grimace.

Rick was glad that there were a lot of people at Deanna's. He had that all too familiar feeling that Lori was going to be difficult this evening.

"Lori, come on." He pleaded. "I thought the papers was your way of making peace?"

"I'm done fighting it, Rick, that's all. If you want to throw away 17 years of marriage because of a little crush..." She let out a curt laugh as she shook her head.

"This isn't the time for this discussion, or the place." Rick tried to put an end to it. He could feel his blood boiling.

"There's no discussion to be had." Lori said coolly. "I'm glad you're finally happy." And with that she walked off to go and join Carol and Morgan who had just walked in.

Rick looked back at Michonne, she was laughing as she'd joined in the game with Andre and Judith. He loved to watch her with Andre, the sheer unadulterated joy she took from him was etched on her face. How amazing it must feel, he thought, to be loved by Michonne. He sighed heavily as he realised it was going to prove more complicated than he thought. She caught sight of him across the room and smiled, he tried to smile back, tried to emulate the happiness on her face, but he knew it fell flat.

He was glad when Deanna started setting up for dinner and he could lend a hand in the kitchen. He busied himself with relaying giant serving bowls to the table, dodging the children running around and ignoring the social small talk that he usually hated.

"I'll never fail to be impressed at what you've created here." He marvelled to Deanna as he surveyed the scene through the serving hatch. Somehow at the end of the world they had created somewhere that felt like home. His extended family sat at the long table, on the couches and the floors. Teenagers and kids played and read with each other. People who never would have noticed each other if they passed on the street six years ago were cracking jokes and laughing like old friends.

"It was everyone." Deanna conceded, handing Rick a plate of steamed vegetables. "Now go, sit." She commanded.

Rick sat in between Michonne and Daryl, painfully aware of Lori's gaze, but more aware of Michonne's hand resting on his knee. His stomach fluttered as he placed his hand on top of hers and squeezed.

"You ok?" She whispered.

He nodded in response, his eyes briefly flicking to where Lori was sat. "I think so." He tried to smile at her again.

"Mommy can I stay at Gracie's tonight?" Judith's sweet face appeared next to Lori at the table.

"Only if it's ok with Gracie's daddy's?" Lori looked at Aaron and Eric who nodded their agreement. "Fine by me, mamma can get started on the wine."

Rick eyed Lori cautiously from the end of the table. The mood she was in plus alcohol was never a good mix. He watched as she made her way through an entire bottle, laughing uproariously at Mike's jokes. "_At least she's happy_." Rick thought to himself as he decided to focus on his own enjoyment.

He tried to focus on what was important. On Carl and Judith having a good day, which they undeniably were, and on Michonne.

"You got a second?" He whispered to her in a quiet moment after dinner.

"Sure." She surveyed him from under her eyelashes.

He gestured to the front door and they stepped outside.

"I've been wanting to get you alone all night." Rick drew her close to him.

"You've got me now." Michonne wrapped her arms around his neck. Her delicate wrists crossed over his strong shoulders. "So what are you waiting for?"

Rick didn't need another cue. He knew people could likely see them from the window, but he kissed her anyway. He would never cease to be amazed at her soft, sweet lips. It was a mistake, he realised, as she deepened the kiss. He wanted more of her, and immediately. The blood rushed to his dick, memories of last night flooding his brain.

He tangled a hand in her hair, nibbled her lip softly to convey his hunger for her. With his other hand he reached around to feel her perfectly rounded ass once again. She moaned. She reached down to caress his hard cock through the fabric of his jeans. Rick practically whimpered as his cock twitched under her touch.

"You gonna stay the night tonight?" He said quietly, their faces still pressed together.

"Yeah." Michonne whispered back.

Luckily they broke apart a moment before the door opened, and Lori burst outside.

"What's up lovebirds?" She cackled, clearly experiencing the effects of the wine Rick had seen her practically downing at the dinner table.

"Hi Lori." Michonne tried to smile casually. Lori ignored her and continued along the road.

"I'll be back in a minute." Rick whispered to Michonne, rubbing her arm. "Meet you at mine?" Michonne nodded.

Rick followed Lori down the road, noticing her unsteady gait.

"Hey...you alright to walk home?" Rick said as he caught up with her.

"Do you even care?" She slurred.

"You're the mother of my children." He said quietly, holding onto her elbow to steady her. "Of course I care. Come on, let me walk you home."

"Does Michonne know how lucky she is?" Lori complimented him in the way she always somehow managed to; making it sound like an insult. "The honourable Rick Grimes. Deputy sheriff."

"Its not like that."

"Then what is it like?"

"We're friends." He said. "And hopefully someday we'll be something more."

Lori scoffed.

"You were looking at her the whole time..."

Rick shook his head, he was glad they were at the steps to Lori's.

"...and you were kissing her...do you kiss all your friends? Do you kiss Daryl...?"

"Lori, c'mon..."

"...when did you stop loving me Rick?" She asked.

"I didn't...it wasn't like that." Rick opened her front door and gestured for Lori to step inside. Her feet were rooted to the ground. Rick sighed. He wasn't in the mood for a discussion about how their marriage failed and why.

"I'll always love you Rick." Lori's eyes drifted to behind Rick for a moment before she returned to look back at him. She leaned in, eyes closed and faster than Rick could dodge she had planted a kiss on his lips.

"Lori!" Rick's face was like thunder. "What the fuck...?"

"Goodnight Rick." She said as she went inside and closed the door.

Stunned Rick turned around to walk back to Deanna's house, and stood there about 50 feet away, witness to the entire thing was Michonne. She turned on her heel and walked away.

"Michonne!" Rick sprinted to catch up with her.

"Save it Rick, I don't want to know." She was walking so fast that Rick had to maintain an awkward jog to keep up with her.

"You honestly think I wanted that to happen?" He pleaded with her.

"Well it happened, I saw it." She picked up the hem of her dress to enable her to walk even faster. "I am such an idiot."

"I'm the idiot! She was drunk...I didn't know that was about to happen!" He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, as if he could erase the memory of what had just happened.

Michonne stopped in her tracks, she turned to look at Rick.

"I was right in the first place, this is too complicated." Michonne sighed. Rick opened and closed his mouth.

"If that's what you think then I'm not gonna change your mind." Rick relented.

"Have you ever fought for anyone in your life, Rick?" She said, she turned on her heel again and walked back to the party. Rick knew not to follow her. He was angry, angry at Lori for trying to fuck everything up, angry at Michonne for giving up on him, and angry at himself for not having the balls to stand up and fight for her. He surrendered to the shitty situation and headed home alone.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Wow some strong opinions in the comments on the last chapter. Keep it coming because I love it. I agree with everyone saying Rick needs to grow a backbone, but I feel like his behaviour echos his behaviour towards Lori in the show. I always found myself frustrated with how he let Lori treat him. As for Michonne I think she had made up her mind to be with Rick, but seeing Lori kiss him (though clearly he didn't want it) was a step too far for her to be able to overlook.**

**Lets hope the situation resolves itself in these final two chapters (plus Epilogue.) Once again, thanks for reading and enjoying and getting involved. It means so much to me.**

When Rick woke up his head felt even less clear than the night before. He'd been dreaming again. Shane and Lori, even Andrea and Hershel made an appearance. But the worst part was Michonne. Saying nothing, just standing there shaking her head at him as he pleaded with her. He stared into the empty space at the foot of his bed, his eyes full of grit, his throat sore. He must have been screaming again. Daryl usually came in to wake him when he heard the screams, it usually snapped him out of it. But Rick figured he was in a deeper sleep than usual due to the abundance of wine available at Deanna's the night before.

He decided to go for a run. He pulled his running clothes from the dresser, they weren't hard to find considering his meagre selection of clothes. He laced up his sneakers for the first time in forever and headed out the door.

He ran around the perimeter twice before deciding to come to a stop when the cold air began biting at his face and stung his throat. His ragged breath billowed before him in plumes of white smoke. He was gone for just under an hour, and although he knew that no length of time killing his lungs would rid him of his demons, he returned home with a sense of renewed purpose.

He knocked on Daryl and Carol's doors with his divorce papers, begging them with their fuzzy heads to witness his signature. They both relented, slightly bemused as Rick exited their house to hand the papers to Deanna, a rare spring in his step.

"Congratulations." Deanna said with the wry, mischievous smile that Rick enjoyed. "You're divorced." She made her way to the filing cabinet. "I figured I'll keep them here, hopefully not the first of many."

"Thanks for sorting it." He said. "I've got to go and right another wrong now." He sighed.

Deanna gave a knowing smile. "You go get 'em tiger." She waved him off.

Rosita raised her eyebrow at Rick as she opened the front door to him. Her pursed lips and fixed jaw told him that Michonne had clearly filled her in on the details of the night before.

"If you're looking for Michonne, I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to see you." She said, eyeing him up and down. Rick suddenly became painfully aware of how dishevelled he must look I'm his running gear. He ran his hand through his hair to try and tame it into some kind of style.

"It's fine." Michonne's voice came from the kitchen table where she was stirring milk into her steel cut oats. Rick sidestepped Rosita, trying to avoid her icy glare as he did so.

"Morning!" He said with an over zealous amount of cheer. "Do you wanna..." Rosita was practically boreing a hole in the side of his head, she stood watching him with her arms folded. "...uh...would you like to go on a date...with me...today?" He said it clumsily.

"Why would she want...?"

"Rosita!" Michonne had to laugh at her friends protectiveness. "I got this."

Rosita pursed her lips again and made sure to shoot one final glare at Rick before she exited the room. Rick breathed a visible sigh of relief.

"Look." He approached the table where Michonne was sat. "I'm not good at talking, I'm not good with words, I'm not even that smart. But I wanna show you what you mean to me. Will you let me?"

Michonne shrugged her shoulders and nodded at him.

"Come pick me up in an hour." She said. She figured she might as well indulge Rick while Andre was with Mike for the next couple of days. Besides, Rick exuded a new kind of sexiness in his shorts and sneakers, covered in mud and sweat. She was less angry than the night before, an evening with her friends was just what she needed to get her thoughts straight.

* * *

Michonne dressed quickly, throwing on her jeans and a dark purple thick jumper. She had business to take care of before Rick came to collect her. She was off to speak to Lori. Rick had talked to Mike, she realised. She knew both of them well enough to know that he wasn't asking for permission, but just being courteous in a world where they were forced into close quarters. She remembered the annoyance she felt at Mike and Jessie when they were sneaking around. It wasn't jealousy, but Michonne figured it seemed a little disrespectful.

It seemed so simple now she thought of it. Her and Lori had never been close for one reason or another. There was always a wired tension in the air when they were together. But they were family, they all were. And if Rick wasn't going to be the one to be upfront and honest, then she would.

Michonne tentatively knocked on the door, hoping it was quiet enough that Lori couldn't hear and that she could walk away. To her dismay a few short moments later the door opened and Lori's face peered out.

Michonne held up the pack of Laffy Taffy she'd saved from the supply run.

"Peace offering?" She got straight to the point. Lori smiled meekly as she stepped aside to let her in.

"Carl used to be obsessed with those." Lori said quietly. " They used to get stuck in his teeth, I used to brush them forever!"

"That's one thing I'm grateful for nowadays." Michonne confessed. "Andre has candy about once a year."

"Do you want a coffee? Or tea? Or some lemonade?" Lori offered, casting her dazed eyes around her kitchen. Michonne shook her head, placing the candy on the sideboard. "What can I do for you?" She asked. Having sensed correctly that Michonne didn't just come over to talk about candy.

Michonne inhaled, she hadn't prepared what she was going to say to Lori.

"I'm sorry." She began. "Rick and I...we could have handled this better."

Lori nodded and bit her lip. She visibly recoiled at Michonne's phrasing "Rick and I."

"No easy way to handle it really is there?" She admitted. "But I'm the one who should apologise. What I did last night was inappropriate and bitchy. It was the kind of thing I would have done in high school."

"Yeah." Michonne nodded. She couldn't relate. She had never associated with those types of girls in high school. "Look...for whatever reason, you and I have never been close." Lori nodded. "But we're going to be in each others lives. If all goes well I'm gonna be in your children's lives."

"This is all going very fast." Lori said. "I didn't realise Rick would move on so readily."

"Lori, with all due respect. I think you're not one to comment on moving on quickly." Michonne said it gently, trying to avoid a confrontation, but still wanting to get her point across.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand." Lori said coldly. "Look, what you and Rick do is none of my business. He's got his precious divorce now."

"I came to make peace, I didn't come here to argue." Michonne was finally beginning to realise the extent of how tricky Rick's marriage must have been. She was suddenly grateful that her relationship with Mike was a lot more easy going. "I want us to be friendly, even if we can't be friends."

"Alright." Lori shrugged her arms as if she was giving up. "Might as well, right?"

"And I need you to let Rick move on." Michonne finished. "Not even with me, if it doesn't work out that way."

Lori stared daggers at her, her eyes were open wide. Michonne could tell she was itching to say something, but was clearly holding back.

"And you should try and move on too." Michonne said softly. "Try and find your happiness." She had caught Lori off guard.

"Hard to know what that is anymore." Lori replied, her voice full of regret. Deep down she knew she'd driven Rick away, and he'd stayed too long because that's the kind of man he was.

"It's shitty." Michonne reasoned. "I had it with Mike. You want to forget them, but you see them every day, you have the same friends, you have kids with them..." She shrugged. "...it's not like it was before where you can stay away, only speak on the phone, throw on a nice dress and meet a rebound guy."

"I never was that great at meeting guys." Lori sighed. "Now seems a crappy time to start." She drew her cardigan around her shoulders.

"You never know." Michonne smiled at her. "Look, I've got to get going." She said, deciding not to mention she had a date with Lori's ex husband to attend. "I'm glad we cleared the air."

"Me too." Lori smiled as she opened the door for Michonne. It seemed genuine, but Michonne figured that only time would tell.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: So we've reached the last bit, the final chapter is here with the epilogue in the next couple of days. Thank you for taking this Richonne journey with me :) **

Michonne returned to her house to find Rick waiting outside. He didn't look like any version of Rick Grimes she'd seen before. He held a bunch of flowers in his hand, probably just picked from their neighbours gardens, but a sweet gesture nonetheless. He must have somehow convinced Jessie to cut his hair some time in the last hour because he'd had a full barbershop makeover, beard trim and all. His checked flannel shirt looked fresh and even ironed, but she was comforted to see he still had his old brown coat and usual jeans and boots.

"Thought you'd stood me up." He half joked.

"Sorry. I had to do something." She said, without offering any further information. He didn't push the issue.

"You ready to go?" He held up the car keys.

"Sure let me get my katana if we're going outside the gates."

"And wrap up warm!" He called after her.

Michonne came back a few minutes later with a hat, some extra layers and her sword.

"Where are we going?" She asked as they headed for the huge steel gates.

"You'll see."

"Do we need to bring some food?" She asked him, suddenly looking back towards the store room in a panic.

"Relax. I've taken care of it." He offered a reassuring arm around her shoulders. It felt more casual than romantic, but it was nice. He only released her when it was time to pull back the massive gate and get in the car.

Michonne could see he actually had taken care of it, on the back seat was a picnic blanket and basket of food. "You've really gone all out." She smiled, her frustration at him waning.

"You're worth it." He flashed her a smile. "Have I told you yet today how beautiful you look?" He asked as they got in the car, pulling out all the stops indeed. She rolled her eyes in response, but she felt a smile creep onto her face.

"Are you still not gonna tell me where we're going?" She pleaded as she settled herself in the passenger seat and turned on the heaters.

"No." He smirked, clearly relishing the power. "You'll like it, I promise."

"Alright." Michonne huffed and sank down in the front seat.

"I just hope Eugene's directions are right."

"Has he ever steered us wrong before?"

"No. Well, he hasn't, your interpretation of them has." He turned to her with his eyebrow raised. They both giggled recalling the time two years ago that they'd wound up getting seperated from the rest of the group after a disagreement over the directions.

"I still maintain I was right."

"Michonne we were basically in New York!"

"Don't be dramatic! We turned around as soon as we realised your mistake."

"My mistake? You were in charge of the map!"

"You must not have been listening."

"Or maybe I just wanted to get you alone."

"Stop." She giggled, feeling her bad mood evaporating almost entirely.

* * *

"The beach!?" Michonne smiled as they finally pulled up at their destination. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen a beach so empty. As far as the eye could see was sand covered in a thin layer of snow. It was breathtaking, figuratively and literally, she realised as the costal breeze thrashed her face.

"This isn't like the one I dreamed about." Rick grimaced as he dragged the blanket and picnic basket out of the car, his nose already red from the cold. "But I guess it'll do."

"I love it." Michonne linked her arm in his as they walked towards the sand. It was sweet and thoughtful, and more importantly, it was nice to be completely alone with Rick.

"So..." He laid out the picnic blanket on the sand and weighted it down with the basket. "...I have got us some cookies...fresh bread...a tonne of apples...and look..." He gleefully handed Michonne a tiny bottle of red wine.

She giggled. "Where did you get that from?"

"I helped Olivia out with organising the armoury." He shrugged. "That was my reward."

"Nice." She nodded.

"Oh and a flask of hot tea." He produced it as he said it. "Because it is fucking freezing." He cupped his gloved hands to blow on them. "In fact, c'mon let's find some wood. I'll light us a fire." He tapped her knee to indicate she should follow him.

A short while later they had devoured all the food and had laid back on the blanket, both propped up on their elbows. A small fire burned next to them in a pit in the sand. Michonne's katana and Rick's colt python sat next to them, their fifth limbs.

They were silent. Michonne desperately wanted to address the events of the night before, but she was enjoying the feeling of lying with him like this in the warmth of the fire. They were well-fed, their children were safe, she felt happy. It was easy to get bogged down with life's little problems when they were safe, but she vividly remembered a time when all they could think about was survival. They were so lucky that their biggest problem was Rick's ex-wife drunkenly kissing him.

"You were right." Rick said eventually as they lay there gazing out at the horizon, finishing the last sip of his wine. "I never have fought for anyone before. Not really."

"Rick, I was angry..." She said carefully.

"No. You were right. I didn't fight for you when you left, I should have done. I just let you go. For years I never fought for my marriage because it wasn't worth fighting for. But I brought you here to show you that changes now."

Michonne had never heard Rick talk like this before. She didn't know how to reply, with Mike she was used to just arguing it out until they agreed to disagree. Their joint stubborness had ultimately led to their downfall.

"This is different." He continued when she didn't respond. "_You_ are different. You make me want to be better, the best version of myself that I can be. I haven't been that for a while, but I want to be that for you. If you'll let me?"

She nodded. Still at a loss for a response, she kissed him. He drew her closer to him, feeling the heat radiate from her even through the layers. Their tongues did their familiar dance with one another, the effect was no less intoxicating than the first time. Rick dreamed of kissing Michonne practically every night and didn't want to waste one second when he got to do it for real. He moaned softly as she sucked on his bottom lip, knowing what was under all those layers and wanting to unwrap her.

He pulled back, gesturing towards the car with his eyes. She nodded. She screamed as he lifted her up from the ground and slung her over his shoulder. He ran up the beach to where the Chevrolet sat unsuspecting. Rick opened the back door and gently lowered Michonne onto the back seat. He wasn't even fully in the car himself before he rid her of her bottom layer of clothing.

He ducked inside, pulling the door closed behind him, and went to work. His fingers entered her warm folds, he felt his dick twitch at the mere thought of being inside her. His thumb found her engorged bud and he traced soft circles around it as he kissed up her thighs. Michonne began to take off her layers, Rick took the hint and with his free hand found her breast.

He rolled his thumb over her hardened nipple, still keeping the rhythm with his tongue. Michonne used her arms to brace herself against the car seats. She knew by now it was only a matter of time before Rick took her to the point of no return. She bucked her hips to meet his mouth as he continued his assault, she was practically vibrating from the waist down as he sucked and licked her to her first orgasm.

Michonne had barely recovered her composure before Rick was inside her, she hadn't even noticed him unbuttoning his jeans. She just felt his perfect dick as it slid into her pussy. He wasted no time rolling his hips, fucking her as if it was the end of the world.

She was so wet that he was worried he would explode inside her immediately. They frantically undressed themselves, both desperate for the feeling of skin on skin. He pressed himself against her, covering her mouth with her's. The car was filled with their breathy moans and the sound of his cock sliding in and out of her.

Rick kissed every available part of Michonne's skin as his dick brushed her g-spot.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered in between nibbling and kissing her ear.

She could only respond with a breathy moan as another orgasm took over her body. Her legs shook as she clamped down on Rick. He held her face in his hand, staring her deep in her dark brown eyes as she came. It was enough to drive him over the edge.

"Fuck...I'm gonna cum." He warned, pulling out. Michonne shifted herself down the seat, effortlessly contorting herself to take him in her mouth. It only took a few rolls of her tongue over the head to cause him to release into her mouth. She swallowed expertly as his seed hit the back of his throat. Not letting up until she had sucked every last drop.

He kissed her, still breathless. "Am I forgiven?" He asked, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Forgiven." She confirmed with another peck.

They broke apart and sat next to each other, Rick wiped the condensation from the window.

"It's getting dark." He said as he shifted to pull his pants back on. "We should head back."

Michonne surveyed him from under the locs that had fallen in her face.

"Not yet." She smirked. "We came all this way. We're going for a paddle."

"It's freezing." Rick chuckled.

"You chicken?" She teased.

He sighed heavily, he wordlessly removed his boots before pulling his shirt and coat back on.

"Alright." He relented. "Let's get this over with." He shook his head at her as he got out the car and his feet met the frozen snow. "But I'm not carrying you again."

"I told you you'd love the beach with me." Michonne teased as she ran off, forcing him to run too.

"Holy shit." He yelled as he reached the frigid ocean, his voice about three octaves higher than usual. "It's SO cold!" He couldn't help laughing.

"It is a little cold." Michonne relented, but waded further in. Their jeans were getting drenched.

"How long before hyperthermia kicks in." Rick laughed through his chattering teeth.

"I say we got two more minutes." Michonne approached him and wrapped her arms around him. "Keep me warm." Rick kissed her as he wrapped his large coat around them both. She rested her head on his chest.

Rick took a moment to appreciate the view. There didn't look to be another person around for miles and miles. Away from everyone they knew it seemed so peaceful. He knew they'd have to go home soon, he knew it wasn't as simple as they both wished it was. But somehow he knew they'd get there. His feet in the Atlantic Ocean, the most beautiful girl by his side, freezing cold stood at the edge of the world, it felt like something special was about to start.


	20. Epilogue

**A/N: So here we are at the end. This was pretty much one of the first parts of this story I wrote. I hope you all enjoy where Rick and Michonne end up. Thanks again for the support, I actually can't believe how many people have been reading and commenting.**

_It was sunset at the farm. Rick was certain that it was the most beautiful sight on earth. A lone figure sat on Hershel's porch, backlit by the glow. _

_"Whassup?" Shane said as Rick drew closer. He was younger now, fresh out of the academy. His hair messy on top of his head. _

_"Where's Carl?" Rick found himself asking. _

_"He's inside...he's safe. They're all safe." Shane reassured him. _

_"You were wrong." Rick said defiantly. And for the first time in all these years he was beginning to believe it. "I am meant for this world."_

_Shane snorted, but he didn't deny his claim. _

_"Well I tell you what..." He turned to face Rick. "...I never thought you would have had the balls to kill me..." He chuckled. "...brother that was a surprise." _

_"I'll never forgive myself." _

_"Naw...you stepped up." Shane looked him square in the eyes. "I'm proud of you."_

_"Did I ever thank you?" Rick asked.__"For getting Carl and Lori to safety?"_

_"You did." _

_"I let you down." Rick shook__ his head. The tears flowing in free fall. He reached out to touch Shane, but it felt like trying to touch smoke or dust. "I__ kept her safe." He whispered. "Like you kept them safe, I've kept Judith safe for you."_

_"I 'preciate that, Rick." Shane leaned back onto the huge wooden support beam. "You know she ain't mine, not really. None of them ever were. I was just chasing a stupid dream." _

_"Why did we let it come between us?" Rick let out a heavy sigh. "All of it...I thought we were invincible."_

_"It was me." Shane said firmly. "Don't carry this anymore. This was on me."_

_Rick felt himself floating, and for the first time he saw it all. Shane cradling him in his arms after he got shot. Shane storming into the hospital, while the guns blazed and sirens wailed, trying to take Rick home. Shane ushering Lori and Carl into the car. Shane holding him up on the porch outside the farm after Carl got shot. A young Shane on his bike, ringing Rick's doorbell to come out to go for a ride. _

_Then he thought about Lori, and Carl and Judith. He thought about his extended family, and the things he did to keep them safe. The person he used to be wouldn't recognise the person he was now. And maybe that was ok. _

_"We made it." He heard Michonne's voice in his ear, as they drove through the gates of Alexandria for the first time._

_"We made it." He said as the farm disappeared into the distance, he couldn't see Shane anymore. He felt him in his bones, he was a part of him now. Like Hershel and Beth and Tyreese and T-Dog and all the others who didn't make it. He knew he would carry them forever, but for the first time it didn't feel like it was weighing him down._

He awoke to Michonne gently nudging him.

"You dreaming again?" She whispered.

"It's ok." He reassured her, cupping her face in his hands. "We made it."

* * *

Rick awoke just as the sun was rising. He extracted himself from Michonne, knowing she would likely be asleep for another couple of hours, and quietly got dressed and headed outside. He walked with an extra spring in his step along the streets of Alexandria. He loved it when it was this quiet, it was one of the things he missed about his night time police shifts, pounding the streets like he was the only person on earth. A stark contrast to the day he woke up in the hospital and thought he actually was the only person left alive.

He opened the door to Reg's studio, his studio now since Deanna appointed him the architect for Alexandria. He figured he could get a couple of hours work in before the days craziness started.

At around 7:30am he decided to head home, Michonne would be waking up now. He walked past the church, Gabe was opening the doors.

"Good morning." The priest called from the doorway, he was framed by a new floral arch that Rosita and Sasha had erected the evening before.

"Good morning." Rick raised his arm. "You all ready for today?"

"I am." Gabe smiled. "Don't worry."

"I'm not." Rick smiled as he went towards the house he shared with Michonne, Andre and Judith. Carl had moved out with Dwayne and Ron as soon as they all turned 18. Sprinting up the steps as he always found himself doing, eager to get home. He pushed open the door to the quiet house. He busied himself in the kitchen making breakfast for Michonne, the Kingdom had dropped off a fresh fruit delivery the day before so Rick made her strawberries and yogurt and took it upstairs.

The bedroom door was open, but she hadn't noticed him yet. She lay on her side, her knees drawn up in a cocoon, arms wrapped around their three month old baby, RJ. Rick cocked his head to one side, taking in his favourite view; the woman he loved nursing his baby boy.

"Morning." He said gently when she noticed him. He brought her breakfast to her, spoon feeding her a mouthful before placing it on the side and climbing into bed next to them.

"Where'd you go?" She quizzed, offering him a quick kiss.

"Working." He yawned as he wrapped his arms around her and RJ.

"You work too much." She chided him.

"You can talk." He laughed. Michonne was now the head of security at Alexandria, and Deanna's right hand woman since Maggie took over as permanent leader of the Hilltop. He planted another kiss on her cheek. "Now, I need to go have a shower and get out of your way." He begrudgingly got up from the bed. "Our friends will be here soon."

* * *

Michonne didn't know why she was so nervous. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, the butterflies in her stomach were causing it to practically summersault out of her abdomen. Her hands were shaking as she clutched her bouquet. Maggie turned around to squeeze her hand, looking beautiful in her dark blue dress. Michonne tried to smile in response.

"You ready?" Carl turned to her. When did he grow up, she wondered as he stood beside her looking identical to his father apart from the long hair. She nodded in response and took his arm. Andre stood next to her on the other side, a long legged nine year old now who she was certain would surpass her in height in the next year. Her boys. What a journey they'd all been on together, she couldn't wait for their next exciting chapter.

The piano started playing, her and Rick had agonized for hours about the music and she was happy with their choice as Olivia began playing Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars on the piano. With Judith, Sasha, Maggie and Rosita in front of her, and Carl and Andre on each arm she took her first step towards her new life.

Rick felt Glenn's hand on his shoulder as the doors opened. He was grateful for the sensation, or he'd have been convinced he was dreaming. Michonne looked out of this world beautiful, her skin glowed and her locs were pinned back from her face. Her floor length dress had taken weeks to find, and she was eternally grateful for Tara and Heath going on runs and bringing back hundreds of dresses for her to try. The dress was form fitting and the train went on for miles. Rick felt his heart swell as she flashed him his favourite smile.

Flanked by Glenn and Daryl he looked at the sea of faces, his friends and family. His not so little girl leading the bridesmaids, his nearly grown up son walking the woman he loved down the aisle. All the people that mattered in the world were under that one roof. Lori sat in the front row cradling RJ in her arms, a symbol of how far they'd all come in the past two years.

He waited as the bridesmaids filed in and took their places, Michonne seemed to take forever to get to him, and he wanted to skip straight to the part of the ceremony where he was allowed to kiss her. "You look beautiful." He choked out as she finally reached him and stood in front of him. She brought her hand up to his face to wipe away the single tear making its way down his cheek. Tears of happiness for a change.

"You don't look too bad yourself." She smiled. She had never seen Rick in a suit before, she'd never seen him wear anything other than his cowboy boots and jeans before. If it wasn't for Sasha's constant insistence that she wouldn't let it happen, she'd have prepared herself to marry him in his usual attire.

She made a mental note to thank Glenn and Daryl who took him on a run to sort out his suit, how they managed to match the colour of his tie to the bridesmaid dresses she'll never know. He wore a dark grey three piece suit, with the crispest white shirt and the shiniest shoes she'd seen in years. She suspected Glenn had more to do with it than Rick or Daryl, but she was impressed.

"Shall we begin?" Gabe asked them both as the congregation took their seats.

Rick didn't trust himself to speak, and without taking his eyes off Michonne he nodded.

The day passed in a blur, their friends had pulled out all the stops with assisting them in organising the wedding. Carol and Olivia had worked tirelessly all morning cooking everyone a meal. Jerry and Ezekiel had provided cobbler and a huge fruit platter. Jesus had managed to find bottles of vodka and gin and whiskey and made sure everyone had more than their fill of his home made cocktails.

As the streets grew dark, and the guests disappeared, Rick took Michonne into his arms. Eugene had rigged up a sound system and had been playing their limited CDs as entertainment. The hundreds of candles that they'd lit that afternoon were still burning all around them. The bouquets of lillie's and white roses adorned the tables.

"I didn't get a first dance." Rick whispered in her ear.

"We said we weren't gonna do that." Michonne screwed up her face. "Too corny."

"How about just for us?" He asked, feeling romantic. "Your choice."

Michonne indulged him, she kicked off her shoes and walked over to the CD player. She took her time looking through all the options before deciding.

"I love this song." She smiled as UB40 began to play.

"An excellent choice." Rick grinned.

She returned to her position in his arms again. Her favourite place to be. Their kids were in bed, baby RJ slept in the pram next to them. It had been eight years since the world had ended, yet today it seemed like it was beginning all over again. Michonne let Rick lead her in a slow circle as they had their first dance as husband and wife.

_Like a river flows_

_Surely too the sea_

_Darling so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_


End file.
